Researchers find defects in adult stem cell niche may cause bre...( e microenvironments that house the adul...),Health

In the mice that expressed excess amounts of either of the cancer-producing proteins, the size of the cell populations were significantly changed relative to each other. The order of the cell arrangements was disrupted in the stem cell niches of mice with breast cancer. These results provided the first evidence that each cell population may play a different role in the development of breast cancer and that the environment in which a cell grows can influence its chance of becoming cancerous.

"The results also show how complicated cancer is as a disease. Although it's not something that will be solved easily or quickly, our study reveals important information on the genesis of breast cancer in the body," said Chepko.

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Contact: Liz McDonald
eem6@georgetown.edu
202-687-5100
Georgetown University Medical Center
4-Oct-2005