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Functional Culture Models to Study Mechanisms Governing Apoptosis in Normal and Malignant Mammary Epithelial Cells

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Abstract

Mammary tissue homeostasis depends upon dynamicinteractions between the epithelial cells, theirmicroenvironment (including the basement membrane andthe stroma), and the tissue architecture, whichinfluence each other reciprocally to regulate growth,death and differentiation in the gland. To study howapoptosis is regulated in normal mammary cells, and tounderstand its role in breast tumor pathogenesis, we need model systems that recapitulate breasttissue architecture and microenvironment in culture. Wehave established culture models of primary andestablished nonmalignant mammary cell lines from both rodent and human, and defined procedures tostudy how cell and tissue architecture affect signalingby the basement membrane. We show that both a basementmembrane and an organized tissue structure are required to achieve sustained mammary cellsurvival. These models could now be used to investigatehow the basement membrane represses apoptosis in normalcells, and how breast cancers becomedeath-resistant.

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  1. V. M. Weaver
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  2. M. J. Bissell
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Weaver, V.M., Bissell, M.J. Functional Culture Models to Study Mechanisms Governing Apoptosis in Normal and Malignant Mammary Epithelial Cells. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia 4, 193–201 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018781325716

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