Recent advances in cancer therapeutics stress the need for a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms driving tumor formation. This can be accomplished by obtaining a more complete description of the genes that contribute to cancer. We previously described an approach using the Sleeping Beauty transposon system to model hematopoietic malignancies in mice. Here we describe modifications of the SB system that provide additional flexibility in generating mouse models of cancer. First, we describe a Cre-inducible SBase allele, RosaSBaseLsL, that allows restriction of transposon mutagenesis to a specific tissue of interest. This allele was used to generate a model of germinal center B-cell lymphoma by activating SBase expression with a Aid-Cre allele. In a second approach, a novel transposon was generated, T2/Onc3, in which the CMV enhancer/β-actin (CAG) promoter drives oncogene expression. When combined with ubiquitous SBase expression, the T2/Onc3 transposon produced nearly 200 independent tumors of over 20 different types in a cohort of 62 mice. Analysis of transposon insertion sites identified novel candidate genes, including Zmiz1 and Rian, involved in squamous cell carcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma, respectively. These novel alleles provide additional tools for the SB system and provide some insight into how this mutagenesis system can be manipulated to model cancer in mice.

Sox2 marks dental epithelial stem cells (DESCs) in both mammals and reptiles, and in this article we demonstrate several Sox2 transcriptional mechanisms that regulate dental stem cell fate and incisor growth. Conditional Sox2 deletion in the oral and dental epithelium results in severe craniofacial defects, including impaired dental stem cell proliferation, arrested incisor development and abnormal molar development. The murine incisor develops initially but is absorbed independently of apoptosis owing to a lack of progenitor cell proliferation and differentiation. Tamoxifen-induced inactivation of Sox2 demonstrates the requirement of Sox2 for maintenance of the DESCs in adult mice. Conditional overexpression of Lef-1 in mice increases DESC proliferation and creates a new labial cervical loop stem cell compartment, which produces rapidly growing long tusk-like incisors, and Lef-1 epithelial overexpression partially rescues the tooth arrest in Sox2 conditional knockout mice. Mechanistically, Pitx2 and Sox2 interact physically and regulate Lef-1, Pitx2 and Sox2 expression during development. Thus, we have uncovered a Pitx2-Sox2-Lef-1 transcriptional mechanism that regulates DESC homeostasis and dental development.

The intervention described here may prove to be effective in desensitizing women with cancer to hair loss and facilitating an adjustment to self-acceptance. As such, a higher quality of life during the difficult time of coping may be maintained. The development of a computer-imaging intervention offers an opportunity to integrate a standard psychosocial intervention, personalized for each patient, into the routine patient care in the oncology setting.

People with intellectual disability have considerable health needs and variable health care. The introduction of annual health screens for IHC residents in New Zealand resulted in some 73% of screened people requiring follow-up interventions. The introduction of the health screens raised a number of issues for management, staff, health professionals and clients who might subsequently be involved in an exercise of this type and magnitude. The importance of applying principles of management promoted by proponents of total quality management has been apparent throughout the whole exercise.