Environmental exposure to estrogens and estrogen like contaminants during early development is thought to contribute to the risk of developing breast cancer primarily due to an early onset of puberty; however, exposure during key developing windows may also influence the risk of developing the disease. The goal of this study was to ask whether in utero exposure to the metalloestrogen cadmium al...

The observation that radioiodide uptake (RAIU) activity, mediated by the Na+/I- symporter (NIS), is significantly increased in lactating breast suggests that RAIU and NIS expression in mammary gland are modulated by hormones involved in active lactation. We showed that both the NIS expression level and RAIU in rat mammary gland are maximal during active lactation compared to those in the mammar...

The EMBO Molecular Medicine Conference on Common Molecular Mechanisms of Mammary Gland Development and Breast Cancer Progression was held jointly with a meeting of the COST B20 (European cooperation in the field of scientific and technical research)—a group of about 35 scientists from 23 European countries who have been meeting regularly during the past five years to discuss questions about mam...

Administration of kefir and a kefir cell-free fraction (KF) to mice injected with breast tumor cells produced, locally in the mammary gland, different profiles of cells secreting cytokines. Here, the immune cell populations in mammary glands affected by the cyclic consumption of kefir or KF for 2 or 7 d were evaluated using a breast tumor model. Apoptosis was also assayed as another mechanism i...

Data in Japan shows that the risk of developing breast cancer increases after the age of 40 and peaks in the late 40s. The most common method of breast cancer screening in Japan is through mammograms, and in recent years, experts have considered combining mammograms with an ultrasound to increase the detection rate of breast cancer. Meanwhile, in the United States, physicians alert the patients...

Toxic milk (tx) is a copper disorder of mice that causes a hepatic accumulation of copper similar to that seen in patients with Wilson disease. Both disorders are caused by a defect in the ATP7B copper-transporting ATPase. A feature of the tx phenotype is the production of copper-deficient milk by lactating dams homozygous for the tx mutation; the milk is lethal to the pups. It has not been det...

The mammary gland is a skin gland unique to the class Mammalia. Despite a growing molecular and histological understanding of the development and physiology of the mammary gland, its functional and morphological origins have remained speculative. Numerous theories on the origin of the mammary gland and lactation exist. The purpose of the mammary gland is to provide the newborn with copious amou...

A cDNA microarray resource enhanced for transcripts specific to the bovine mammary gland (BMAM) has been developed and used in pilot studies to examine gene expression profiles in the mammary gland. One goal driving development of this resource was to shed some light on the pathways and mechanisms specifically related to bovine mammary gland growth and development. To accomplish this, gene expr...

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) regulates proliferation, morphogenesis, and functional differentiation in the mammary gland and plays complex roles in mammary tumorigenesis. Here we show that the signaling mediators Smad1-Smad5 are expressed at all stages of mammary gland development. To begin to investigate which Smads mediate which TGF-beta responses, we have analyzed mammary gland...

8 In the mammary gland, vimentin intermediate filaments are expressed in stromal cells and 9 in basal epithelial cell populations including gland-reconstituting mammary stem cells 10 (MaSC), with largely undefined functions. Here, we studied how vimentin deficiency affects 11 mouse mammary gland development. Our results demonstrate that in adult vimentin 12 knockout mice (Vim-/-) mammary ductal...