Normal and Abnormal Breastmilk Cells (3 of 3) (IMAGE)
Caption
New research led by McGill Biochemist Dr. William Muller helps explain why breastmilk cells lose their structure, causing them to clump up in strange ways (see photos) and sometimes become cancer tumors. With the support of Chen Ling and Dongmei Zuo at McGill’s Goodman Cancer Centre, Muller has discovered how one particular gene regulates epithelial cells – cells that normally form in sheets and are polarized to enable the transport of molecules in a single direction. It’s this loss of polarity that is thought to play an important role in breast tumor development.
Credit
Chen Ling, Dongmei Zuo, Bin Xue, Senthil Muthuswamy, and William J. Muller, <i>GENES & DEVELOPMENT</i> 24:000–000 2010, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, pp. 947-956. Print resolution images are available on request.
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