Article provded by Georgetown University

Three-dimensional culture of human breast cancer cells, with DNA stained blue and a protein in the cell surface membrane stained green. Photo Credit: Image created in 2014 by Tom Misteli, Ph.D., and Karen Meaburn, Ph.D. at the NIH IRP.

A research team, led by investigators from Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, details how a natural and dramatic process—changes in mammary glands to accommodate breastfeeding—uses a molecular process believed to contribute to survival of pre-malignant breast cells.

Their mouse study, published online in Cell Death Discovery, shows that a critical switch that operates during breaks in nursing controls whether breast cells that had been providing milk will survive or die. The pro-survival pathway may be an example of a normal pathway that can be co-opted by pre-cancerous cells, including those that could become breast cancer, the researchers say.

If so, the findings may provide a strategy to block a part of the pathway that contributes to cancer, says the study lead author, Anni Wärri, Ph.D., an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Medical Center and the University of Turku in Finland. Read more.

Published October 15, 2018 by Medical Xpress

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