Microtubule associated tumor suppressor 1 deficient mice develop spontaneous heart hypertrophy and SLE-like lymphoproliferative disease.

The microtubule associated tumor suppressor gene 1 (MTUS1) is a recently published tumor suppressor gene, which has also been shown to act as an early component in the growth inhibitory signaling cascade of the angiotensin II type 2 receptor (AT2R). In this study we report the generation of MTUS1 knock-out (KO) mice, which develop normally but reveal higher body weights and slightly decreased blood pressure levels. Twenty-eight percent of the studied MTUS1 KO mice also developed heart hypertrophy and 12% developed nephritis, independent of blood pressure levels.

Down-regulation of MTUS1 in human colon tumors.

Loss of proliferative control and failure to undergo cellular differentiation are key events during carcinogenesis. We recently identified a new potential tumor suppressor gene named MTUS1 (mitochondrial tumor suppressor 1), down-regulated in undifferentiated tumor cell lines, inhibiting tumor cell proliferation after recombinant over-expression. The aim of this study was to investigate whether MTUS1 is also down-regulated in human tumor tissues, and whether reduced expression of MTUS1 enhances cellular proliferation.