Slugging their way to immortality: driving mammary epithelial cells into a stem cell-like state

Delineating the molecular factors that define and maintain the mammary stem cell state is vital for understanding normal development and tumourigenesis. A recent study by Guo and colleagues identifies two master transcriptional regulators of mammary stem cells, Slug and Sox9, ectopic expression of w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Breast cancer research : BCR 2012-09, Vol.14 (5), p.319-319, Article 319
Main Authors: Soady, Kelly, Smalley, Matthew J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Cell Transformation, Neoplastic - genetics
Cell Transformation, Neoplastic - metabolism
Epithelial Cells - metabolism
Epithelial Cells - pathology
Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition - genetics
Humans
Neoplastic Stem Cells - metabolism
Neoplastic Stem Cells - pathology
Snail Family Transcription Factors
SOX9 Transcription Factor - genetics
SOX9 Transcription Factor - metabolism
Stem Cells - cytology
Stem Cells - metabolism
Transcription Factors - genetics
Transcription Factors - metabolism
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Summary:Delineating the molecular factors that define and maintain the mammary stem cell state is vital for understanding normal development and tumourigenesis. A recent study by Guo and colleagues identifies two master transcriptional regulators of mammary stem cells, Slug and Sox9, ectopic expression of which confers stem cell attributes on differentiated mammary epithelial cells. Slug and Sox9 expression was also shown to determine in vivo metastatic potential of human breast cancer cell lines. Understanding these factors in the context of normal lineage differentiation is an important step toward elucidating the mammary epithelial cell hierarchy and the origins of cancer stem cells.
ISSN:1465-542X
1465-5411
1465-542X
DOI:10.1186/bcr3188