Expert
Reviews in Molecular Medicine: http://www.expertreviews.org/
DOI: 10.1017/S1462399406000196; 20 December 2006
Christine J. Watson (2006) Post-lactational mammary gland regression: molecular
basis and implications for breast cancer. Expert Rev. Mol. Med. Vol. 8, Issue
32, DOI: 10.1017/S1462399406000196
Post-lactational
mammary gland regression: molecular basis and implications for breast cancer
Christine J. Watson
a1
a1 Department
of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge, CB2 1QP,
UK. Tel: +44 (0)1223 333725; Fax: +44 (0)1223 333346; E-mail: cjw53@mole.bio.cam.ac.uk
During
pregnancy, there is a massive increase in the number of luminal epithelial cells
in the breast, which are destined to become the milk factories after birth.
These cells are no longer required when the young are weaned, and are removed
in a carefully orchestrated event called involution. In this process, the secretory
epithelial cells die and are replaced by adipocytes, which redifferentiate as
the epithelium is removed. It is essential that the gland is properly remodelled
to a pre-pregnant state so that successful lactation can occur following a subsequent
pregnancy. Furthermore, failure to remove unnecessary lactational alveoli during
weaning could result in inflammation and tissue damage. Recently, it has been
shown that components in the fatty stroma in involuting breast can promote metastasis.
Thus, it is important to understand the molecular mechanisms that regulate involution,
how these can fail, the consequences of the remodelling process, and how this
knowledge can inform us about breast cancer. In this review, I discuss the roles
of the JAK–STAT, NF-kappaB and other signalling pathways in the regulation
of apoptosis and tissue remodelling during involution.
Full
text online (purchase or subscribe through
Cambridge Journals Online)
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