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Updated: Apr 26, 2026
Mammosphere Formation Assay from Human Breast Cancer Tissues and Cell Lines
Published on: March 22, 2015
The mammary cellular hierarchy and breast cancer
Samantha R Oakes1, David Gallego-Ortega, Christopher J Ormandy
1Cancer Division, The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, 384 Victoria St., Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia.
Abstract:
Advances in the study of hematopoietic cell maturation have paved the way to a deeper understanding the stem and progenitor cellular hierarchy in the mammary gland. The mammary epithelium, unlike the hematopoietic cellular hierarchy, sits in a complex niche where communication between epithelial cells and signals from the systemic hormonal milieu, as well as from extra-cellular matrix, influence cell fate decisions and contribute to tissue homeostasis. We review the discovery, definition and regulation of the mammary cellular hierarchy and we describe the development of the concepts that have guided our investigations. We outline recent advances in in vivo lineage tracing that is now challenging many of our assumptions regarding the behavior of mammary stem cells, and we show how understanding these cellular lineages has altered our view of breast cancer.
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