Study Says Mouse Breast Stem Cells Are Similar to Aggressive Human Breast Cancer

Behind the Cancer Headlines®

July 21, 2006

A study by Geoffrey Lindeman, M.D., Ph.D., Jane Visvader, Ph.D., and colleagues at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, Australia, in collaboration with the BC Cancer Agency in Vancouver, Canada, finds that mouse mammary stem cells express receptor patterns similar to those of aggressive (or basal) human breast cancer, in which the stem cells did not express estrogen and progesterone receptors but did express another receptor.

In contrast, mouse mammary cells that were not stem cells (luminal cells), expressed estrogen and progesterone receptors, similar to less aggressive types of breast cancer.

The study was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

In an accompanying editorial, William F. Anderson, M.D., and Rayna Matsuno of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., discuss the importance of Lindeman's findings. They write, "These data provide opportunity for reflection and change. At a minimum, breast cancer can no longer be viewed as a single biologic entity. […] If breast cancer consists of a mixture of at least two main types, we need a stratified rather than a unified approach for breast cancer research, prevention, and treatment."

SOURCE:

Journal of the National Cancer Institute, July 19, 2006