Leptin, like estrogen, is one of the endo/paracrine factors, which are synthesized in and secreted from mature adipocytes. The roles of the mammary fat pad and mammary adipocytes in the initiation of lactation are not clear. In this study, we showed that combination of prolactin, leptin and estrogen elevated the expression of the milk protein beta-lactoglobulin. We also showed that after prolac...

Epidemiological studies have indicated increased risk for breast cancer within 10 years of childbirth. Acute inflammation during mammary involution has been suggested to promote this parity-associated breast cancer. We report here that estrogen exacerbates mammary inflammation during involution. Microarray analysis shows that estrogen induces an extensive proinflammatory gene signature in the i...

Mammary gland development is controlled by several genes. Although miRNAs have been implicated in mammary gland function, the mechanism by which miR-486 regulates mammary gland development and lactation remains unclear. We investigated miR-486 expression in cow mammary gland using qRT-PCR and ISH and show that miR-486 expression was higher during the high-quality lactation period. We found that...

C3Hf (XVII) mice never develop spontaneous mammary tumors. However, the transplantation of an isologous pituitary gland under their kidney capsule is followed by a 10-fold increase in serum and pituitary prolactin content (180 ng/ml and 20 micrograms/mg of tissue, respectively), concomitant with an increase of prolactin receptors in mammary glands. Under these conditions, mammary tumors appear ...

Mammary carcinoma cells produce pro-angiogenic factors to stimulate angiogenesis and tumor growth. Trefoil factor-3 (TFF3) is an oncogene secreted from mammary carcinoma cells and associated with poor prognosis. Herein, we demonstrate that TFF3 produced in mammary carcinoma cells functions as a promoter of tumor angiogenesis. Forced expression of TFF3 in mammary carcinoma cells promoted prolife...

To characterize the role of BRCA1 in mammary gland development and tumor suppression, a transgenic mouse model of BRCA1 overexpression was developed. Using the mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) promoter/enhancer, transgenic mice expressing human BRCA1 or select mutant controls were generated. Transgenic animals examined during adolescence were shown to express the human transgene in their mammar...

The formation of ErbB2/ErbB3 heterodimers plays a critical role in ErbB2-mediated signaling in both normal mammary development and mammary tumor progression. Through 7 phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) phosphotyrosine-binding sites, ErbB3 is able to recruit PI3K and initiate the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. To directly explore the importance of the ErbB3/PI3K pathway in mammary development and tu...

Vitamin D₃ receptor (VDR) signaling within the mammary gland regulates various postnatal stages of glandular development, including puberty, pregnancy, involution, and tumorigenesis. Previous studies have shown that vitamin D₃ treatment induces cell-autonomous growth inhibition and differentiation of mammary epithelial cells in culture. Furthermore, mammary adipose tissue serves as a depot for ...

Estradiol is a major regulator of postnatal mammary gland development and thought to exert its effects through estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) expressed in the mammary gland stroma and epithelium. Previous studies, however, were confounded by the use of an ERalpha mutant strain that retains some of the protein with transactivation activity. Here, we use an ERalpha-/- mouse strain in which no ...

Levels of 2-methoxyestradiol (2ME(2)), an endogenous metabolite of estradiol, are highly elevated during late stages of pregnancy when mammary glands have differentiated with the formation of alveolar structures producing milk proteins. Based upon our previous demonstration that 2ME(2) induces mammary ductal dilation associated with expression of mammary differentiation markers when administere...