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Highway to heaven: mammary gland development and differentiation

2008; BioMed Central; Volume: 10; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1186/bcr2147

1465-542X

Lorenzo Melchor, Matthew J. Smalley,

Metastasis and carcinoma case studies

In recent years, the mammary gland epithelium has been shown to be a mixture of differentiated cell populations in a hierarchical relationship with their stem and progenitor cells. However, the mechanisms that regulate their cellular differentiation processes are still unclear. The identification of genes that govern stem and progenitor cell expansion, or that determine daughter cell fate, will be of crucial interest for understanding breast cancer diversity and, ultimately, improving treatment. Two recent analyses have identified some of the key genes that regulate these processes, lighting up the highway to normal mammary gland development.