Mammary stem cells come of age, prospectively.
Two recent reports have contributed direct evidence for the existence of a pluripotent mouse mammary epithelial stem cell. In both reports, the investigators have prospectively isolated an enriched fraction of mammary stem cells using fluorescence-activated cell sorting from freshly dispersed epithelial cells. This fraction of cells, upon transplantation in limiting dilution (in some cases as a single cell), produces complete mammary development within the host mammary fat pad. These studies extend and confirm earlier work that demonstrated that retroviral-tagged mammary fragments produce complete functional mammary glands comprising their clonal progeny upon fat-pad transplantation. This technical advance opens the possibility to use similar methodologies to isolate and characterize human breast epithelial stem cells, and elucidate their role in regeneration and neoplasia.
Smith
Gilbert H
GH
Laboratory of Mammary Biology and Tumorigenesis, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. gs4d@nih.gov
D000818:Animals; D051927:CD24 Antigen / Q000502:physiology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002469:Cell Separation; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D039503:Integrin alpha6 / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D019012:Integrin beta1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D008321:Mammary Glands, Animal / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D042361:Mammary Glands, Human / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D023421:Models, Animal; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*
D051927:CD24 Antigen; D039503:Integrin alpha6; D019012:Integrin beta1