Breast Stem Cells Live Long And May Trigger Cancer Decades Later

(Breast cancer research team Professor Jane Visvader, Dr. Nai Yang Fu, Dr. Anne Rios and Professor Geoff Lindeman (left to right) have found that breast stem cells and their 'daughter' progenitor cells are long-lived in the breast.  Photo Courtesy: Walter and Eliza Hall Institute)

                                                   
A new research has found out that breast stem cells and their daughters have much longer life span than previously thought. In addition, they are active in puberty and throughout life, according to researchers from Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. The research is published in the journal Nature.
                                
The implication of the longevity of breast stem cells and their daughters is that the genetic defects or damage could progress to cancer decades later while shifting back the timeline of breast cancer development. The finding may also possibly identify the cells from which breast cancer originates and help develop new treatments and diagnostics for breast cancer. 

Professors Jane Visvader and Geoff Lindeman and their colleagues at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute isolated breast stem cells in 2006. Now in another project led by Dr Anne Rios and Dr Nai Yang Fu, it was found that breast stem cells actively maintain breast tissue for most of the life of the individual and contribute to all major stages of breast development. 

"Given that these stem cells – and their 'daughter' progenitor cells – can live for such a long time and are capable of self renewing, damage to their genetic code could lead to breast cancer 10 or 20 years later," Professor Lindeman said. "This finding has important applications for our understanding of breast cancer. We hope that it will lead to the development of new treatment and diagnostic strategies in the clinic to help women with breast cancer in the future," said Professor Lindeman, who is also an oncologist at The Royal Melbourne Hospital. 

In order to understand why and how breast cells become cancerous, it is important to understand the hierarchy and development of breast cells, according to Professor Visvader. "Without knowing the precise cell types in which breast cancer originates, we will continue to struggle in our efforts to develop new diagnostics and treatments for breast cancer, or developing preventive strategies," Professor Visvader said.

Immature breast cells were already implicated in cancer development in an earlier research by scientists from the same institute. "In 2009, we showed that luminal progenitor cells, the daughters of breast stem cells, were the likely cell of origin for the aggressive BRCA1-associated basal breast cancers," Professor Visvader said. "The meticulous work of Anne and Nai Yang, using state-of-the-art three-dimensional imaging, has significantly improved our understanding of normal breast development and will have future applications for breast cancer." 

The current project may likely settle a debate on the issue, confirming once for all that breast cells were 'true' stem cells capable of renewing themselves and making all the cells of the mammary gland.