Fibroblasts from relatives of patients with hereditary breast cancer show fetal-like behaviour in vitro.
Fetal and normal adult skin fibroblasts show distinctive migratory behaviour when plated on three-dimensional collagen gels. Skin fibroblasts from 13 of 15 patients with hereditary breast cancer showed fetal-like behaviour compared with only 1 of 12 age-matched healthy controls (p less than 0.015; Wilcoxon signed-rank matched-pairs test). In addition, 10 of 15 first-degree relatives of patients with hereditary breast cancer showed a fetal-like fibroblast phenotype, compared with none of 7 surgical controls (p less than 0.009; chi 2 test). These results suggest that abnormalities expressed by skin fibroblasts may help identify people at increased risk of breast cancer developing.
D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D002465:Cell Movement; D004847:Epithelial Cells; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000166:cytology; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010641:Phenotype; D012867:Skin / Q000166:cytology