Intestinal Neoplasia in the ApcMin Mouse: Independence from the Microbial and Natural Killer (beige Locus) Status

Abstract We have tested the hypothesis that enteric bacteria are necessary for formation of intestinal adenomas in C57BL/6- Apc Min /+mouse. Germ-free mice developed 2-fold fewer adenomas than conventional controls in the medial small intestine (7.3 versus 14.9; P Apc Min /+ mice mutated at the beige locus, which controls natural killer activity, are also unaltered in adenoma multiplicity.