Figure 5. Altered systemic copper distribution impedes prostate cancer growth in TRAMP mice.
A. The tx mutation significantly reduces prostate cancer burden in TRAMP mice. Genitourinary (GU) tracts were weighed from 22-week old and 26-week old wild type, tx, TRAMP and tx/TRAMP mice and normalised to respective mouse body weights (n=5-15 for each strain). The mean ± STDEV (whisker plot) for each strain is shown. B. The tx mutation significantly reduces prostate cancer disease severity (grade) in TRAMP mice. Histological examination of prostate lobes [anterior prostate, dorsolateral prostate and ventral prostate] with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, establishing disease grade in 26-week old wild type, tx, TRAMP and tx/TRAMP mice (n=5 for each strain). The most advanced proliferative lesion in each lobe signified the grade of disease. C. Representative H&E-stained sections displaying prostate disease grade in the prostate lobes [anterior prostate (AP), dorsolateral prostate (DLP) and ventral prostate (VP)] of 26-week old TRAMP and tx/TRAMP mice. (*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001)