A genetic approach to the prediction of drug side effects: bleomycin induces concordant phenotypes in mice of the collaborative cross

The antineoplastic drug bleomycin leads to the side effect of pulmonary fibrosis in both humans and mice. We challenged genetically diverse inbred lines of mice from the Collaborative Cross with bleomycin to determine the heritability of this phenotype. Sibling pairs of mice from 40 lines were treated with bleomycin. Lung disease was assessed by scoring lung pathology and by measuring soluble collagen levels in lavage fluid. Serum micro ribonucleic acids (miRNAs) were also measured. Inbred sibling pairs of animals demonstrated high coinheritance of the phenotypes of disease susceptibility or disease resistance. The plasma levels of one miRNA were clearly correlated in sibling mice. The results showed that, as in humans, the lines that comprise the Collaborative Cross exhibited wide genetic variation in response to this drug. This finding suggests that the genetically diverse Collaborative Cross animals may reveal drug effects that might be missed if a study were based on a conventional mouse strain.