A mammary gland is an exocrine gland in humans and other mammals that produces milk to feed young offspring. Mammals get their name from the Latin word mamma, "breast". The mammary glands are arranged in organs such as the breasts in primates, the udder in ruminants, and the dugs of other animals. Lactorrhea, the occasional production of milk by the glands, can occur in any mammal, but in most mammals, lactation, the production of enough milk for nursing, occurs only in phenotypic females who have gestated in recent months or years. It is directed by hormonal guidance from sex steroids. In a few mammalian species, male lactation can occur. With humans, male lactation can occur only under specific circumstances.
Marc Guy Albert Marie Lacroix is a biochemist and a researcher who specializes in breast cancer biology, metastasis and therapy.
The nuclear receptor coactivator 3 also known as NCOA3 is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the NCOA3 gene. NCOA3 is also frequently called 'amplified in breast 1' (AIB1), steroid receptor coactivator-3 (SRC-3), or thyroid hormone receptor activator molecule 1 (TRAM-1).
Risk factors for breast cancer may be divided into preventable and non-preventable. Their study belongs in the field of epidemiology. Breast cancer, like other forms of cancer, can result from multiple environmental and hereditary risk factors. The term environmental, as used by cancer researchers, means any risk factor that is not genetically inherited.
Insulin receptor substrate 1(IRS-1) is a signaling adapter protein that in humans is encoded by the IRS1 gene. It is a 180 kDa protein with amino acid sequence of 1242 residues. It contains a single pleckstrin homology (PH) domain at the N-terminus and a PTB domain ca. 40 residues downstream of this, followed by a poorly conserved C-terminus tail. Together with IRS2, IRS3 (pseudogene) and IRS4, it is homologous to the Drosophila protein chico, whose disruption extends the median lifespan of flies up to 48%. Similarly, Irs1 mutant mice experience moderate life extension and delayed age-related pathologies.
AFPep is an orally-active, cyclic, 9-amino acid, peptide with a molecular weight of 969 daltons and is derived from the anti-oncogenic active site of alpha fetoprotein (AFP). Using the standard amino acid abbreviations, AFPep has the sequence cyclo(EKTOVNOGN), where O is hydroxyproline. This peptide has been shown in experimental animal models to be efficacious in the prevention and treatment of ER+ breast cancer.
GATA3 is a transcription factor that in humans is encoded by the GATA3 gene. Studies in animal models and humans indicate that it controls the expression of a wide range of biologically and clinically important genes.
ZNF703 is a gene which has been linked with the development of breast cancers. ZNF703 is contained within the NET/N1z family responsible for regulation of transcription essential for developmental growth especially in the hindbrain. Normal functions performed by ZNF703 include adhesion, movement and proliferation of cells. ZNF703 directly accumulates histone deacetylases at gene promoter regions but does not bind to functional DNA.
T-47D is a human breast cancer cell line commonly used in biomedical research involving the hormonal expression of cancer cells.
A hormone-sensitive cancer, or hormone-dependent cancer, is a type of cancer that is dependent on a hormone for growth and/or survival. Examples include breast cancer, which is dependent on estrogens like estradiol, and prostate cancer, which is dependent on androgens like testosterone.
D-15414 is a nonsteroidal weak estrogen of the 2-phenylindole group which was never marketed. It is the major metabolite of the selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) zindoxifene (D-16726). D-15414 has high affinity for the estrogen receptor (ER) and inhibits the growth of ER-positive MCF-7 breast cancer cells in vitro. However, contradictorily, subsequent research found that the drug produced fully estrogenic effects in vitro similarly to but less actively than estradiol, with no antiestrogenic activity observed. The reason for the discrepancy between the findings is unclear, though may be due to methodology. The unexpected estrogenic activity of D-15414 may be responsible for the failure of zindoxifene in clinical trials as a treatment for breast cancer.
The hydroxylation of estradiol is one of the major routes of metabolism of the estrogen steroid hormone estradiol. It is hydroxylated into the catechol estrogens 2-hydroxyestradiol and 4-hydroxyestradiol and into estriol (16α-hydroxyestradiol), reactions which are catalyzed by cytochrome P450 enzymes predominantly in the liver, but also in various other tissues.
MiR-206 is a microRNA with a sequence conserved across most mammalian species, and in humans is a member of the myo-miR family of miRNAs, which includes miR-1, miR-133, and miR-208a/b. Mir-206 is well established for the regulation of cellular processes involving skeletal muscle development, as well as mitochondrial functioning. miR-206 is studied in C2C12 myoblast cells as this is a widely used model for the study of cellular differentiation of skeletal muscle. The biogenesis of miR-206 is unique in that the primary mature transcript is generated from the 3p arm of the precursor microRNA hairpin rather than the 5p arm. Currently, miR-206 has approximately twelve miRNA family members, and the cognate seed sequence of the miR-206 family is conserved across all twelve miRNA members.
4T1 is a breast cancer cell line derived from the mammary gland tissue of a mouse BALB/c strain. 4T1 cells are epithelial and are resistant to 6-thioguanine. In preclinical research, 4T1 cells have been used to study breast cancer metastasis as they can metastasize to the lung, liver, lymph nodes, brain and bone. The cells are known to be highly aggressive in live tissues.
ERX-11, also known as ERα coregulator-binding modulator-11, is a novel antiestrogen and experimental hormonal antineoplastic agent which is being researched for the potential treatment of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. It is not a competitive antagonist of the estrogen receptor (ER) like conventional antiestrogens such as tamoxifen or fulvestrant; instead of binding to the ligand-binding site of the ER, ERX-11 interacts with a different part of the ERα and blocks protein–protein interactions of the ERα with coregulators that are necessary for the receptor to act and regulate gene expression. It was designed to bind to the coregulator binding region of the ERα and inhibit the ERα/coactivator interaction, although its precise binding site and mode of action have yet to be fully elucidated and understood. Nonetheless, it is clear that ERX-11 binds within the AF-2 domain of the ERα.
Relda Marie Cailleau was an American scientist primarily known for her establishment of a series of breast cancer cell lines that have been crucial to the discovery of anticancer drugs and to an understanding of breast cancer biology.
Robert Clarke is a Northern Irish cancer researcher and academic administrator. He is the executive director of The Hormel Institute, a professor of biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics at the University of Minnesota, and an adjunct professor of oncology at Georgetown University.
Pure apocrine carcinoma of the breast (PACB) is a rare carcinoma derived from the epithelial cells in the lactiferous ducts of the mammary gland. The mammary gland is an apocrine gland. Its lactiferous ducts have two layers of epithelial cells, a luminal layer which faces the duct's lumen and a basal layer which lies beneath the luminal layer. There are at least four subtypes of epithelial cells in these ducts: luminal progenitor cells and luminal mature cells which reside in the luminal layer and mammary stem cells and basal cells which reside in the basal layer. Examination of the genes expressed in PACB cancer cells indicate that most of these tumors consist of cells derived from luminal cells but a minority of these tumors consist of cells derived from basal cells.
MDA-MB-231 is a human breast cancer cell line isolated at M D Anderson in 1973 that is used in therapeutic research, especially in the context of triple negative breast cancer.
