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Updated: Jul 7, 2026
06:29
Modeling Breast Cancer via an Intraductal Injection of Cre-expressing Adenovirus into the Mouse Mammary Gland
Published on: June 7, 2019
Does breast cancer start in the womb?
Ana M Soto1, Laura N Vandenberg, Maricel V Maffini
1Department of Anatomy and Cellular Biology, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02111, USA. ana.soto@tufts.edu
Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology
|January 30, 2008
Summary
Foetal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), an environmental oestrogen, may increase breast cancer risk. Studies in mice and rats show BPA exposure during gestation alters mammary development and promotes pre-cancerous lesions, supporting this hypothesis.
Area of Science:
- Endocrinology
- Developmental Biology
- Oncology
Background:
- Perturbations in the fetal environment can lead to adult diseases.
- Increased breast cancer incidence in Europe and the US over 50 years suggests environmental factors.
- Widespread human exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), an environmental oestrogen, is documented.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the hypothesis that fetal exposure to environmental oestrogens, specifically BPA, contributes to increased breast cancer incidence.
- To assess the effects of perinatal BPA exposure on mammary gland development and cancer risk in animal models.
Main Methods:
- CD-1 mice exposed perinatally to environmentally relevant BPA levels.
- Wistar/Furth rats exposed gestationally to BPA.
- Analysis of mammary gland architecture, cell proliferation, and neoplastic lesion development.
Main Results:
- Perinatal BPA exposure in mice altered mammary gland architecture, increasing terminal end buds and ductal branching.
- Exposed mice showed enhanced sensitivity to oestradiol.
- Gestational BPA exposure in rats induced pre-neoplastic lesions and carcinoma in situ.
Conclusions:
- Animal studies demonstrate that fetal exposure to BPA can induce mammary gland alterations and pre-cancerous changes.
- Epidemiological data on diethylstilboestrol (DES) exposure and breast cancer risk support the role of fetal xenooestrogen exposure.
- Fetal exposure to xenooestrogens like BPA is a potential underlying cause of the rising breast cancer incidence.
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