Rogue+Cells+Could+Cause+Spread+Of+Breast+Cancer

Stephanie Lebret is researching what may cause cancer cells in breast cancer victims to spread to other parts of the body. Unable to use the mammary glands on human patients the Dr. Lebret and her team had to make a model using cancer cells grown in cultures in laboratories. First they looked at the model of a normally functioning mammary glad. Doing this the researchers were able to pinpoint what causes cancer cells to move to other parts of the body. A cell surrounding the mammary gland, fibroblasts, help the normal breast cells develop, when working normally.If for some reason these cells have an abnormality then they would cause breast cancer cells to migrate throughout the body. Dr. Lebret believes that this will allow doctors to decide earlier on if the cancer will spread to other parts of the body.

In future research know the factor that causes breast cancer to spread will help in finding ways to prevent the migration of the mutated cells. It will also aid in the research of finding the origin of cancer.

In AP Bio we are not studying the exact causes of cancer yet but in reading the article it will help me understand what part of mitosis/DNA copying is mutated, changed, to cause a malfunction in the cells ability to stop growing or going through mitosis.

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Laurelle Anderson