Estrogen-induced breast cancer is the result of disruption of asymmetric cell division of the stem cell

Abstract

AbstractStem cells have the unique potential to divide asymmetrically to generate daughters with distinct fates, one which remains a stem cell and the other which turns into a cell committed to differentiation. By dividing asymmetrically, stem cells maintain the stem cell pool and simultaneously generate committed cells that reconstitute the organ, for example, to prepare the breast for a new pregnancy after involution from a previous pregnancy and lactation process. In addition to the in vivo models of mammary morphogenesis, there are in vitro systems that make the ductulogenic pattern of breast epithelia growth more amenable to study in critically determined conditions. The human breast epithelial cells MCF-10F formed tubules when grown in type I collagen and we demonstrated that treatment of these cells with 17β-estradiol (E