Defining the cellular precursors to human breast cancer

ABSTRACT: Human breast cancers are broadly classified based on their gene expression profiles into luminal- and basal-type tumors. These two major tumor subtypes express markers corresponding to the major differentiation states of epithelial cells in the breast, luminal (EpCAM+) and basal/myoepithelial (ME, CD10+). However, there are also rare types of breast cancers, such as metaplastic carcinomas, where tumor cells exhibit features of alternate cell types that no longer resemble breast epithelium. Until now, it has been difficult to identify the cell type(s) in the human breast that gives rise to these various forms of breast cancer. Here we report that transformation of EpCAM+ epithelial cells results in the formation of common forms of human breast cancer including ER+ and ER- tumors with lumina

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

SUBMITTER: Perou Charles 

PROVIDER: S-ECPF-GEOD-30489 | biostudies-other |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other