title: IkB kinase alpha: a link in the chain of the mammary cycle.
abstract: The transcription factor NF-kappaB exhibits altered activity in some breast cancers but the relevance of this association has not been established. Cao et al.'s elegant study recently published in Cell reveals a NF-kappaB-dependent signalling pathway responsible for epithelial proliferation in the mouse mammary gland. Could this mechanism, rather than prevention of apoptosis, be responsible for the reported association between NF-kappaB and breast cancer? Could the specificity of NF-kappaB modulators of the IkB kinase complex determine the fate of epithelial cells at different stages of mammary development?
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, UK. rwec2@mole.bio.ac.uk
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Clarkson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D001940:Breast / Q000201:enzymology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D002455:Cell Division; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000201:enzymology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D051550:I-kappa B Kinase; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000378:metabolism*; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D016328:NF-kappa B; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; C496559:CHUK protein, human; D051550:I-kappa B Kinase; C496560:IKBKB protein, human; C496565:IKBKE protein, human