Chronic social isolation–associated mammary gland gene expression. A, validation of individual gene expression. Quantitative RT-PCR values are given as fold change relative to expression in group-housed mice (n = 4 individual mice per cohort). Differences in expression were found to be significant based on the ΔΔCt method estimates using a mixed-effects ANOVA model (Error bars = SEM, Acaca,
P = 0.0005; Acly,
P < 0.0001; Hk2,
P < 0.0001). B, the top functional gene categories associated with social isolation based on mammary gland gene expression differences at 15 wk were identified using the IPA 6.5 software. C, human HK2 (hexokinase 2), ACL (ATP citrate lyase), and ACC (acetyl-CoA carboxylase α) genes encode key components of cancer-associated glycolysis and lipogenesis pathways.