Aging and cancer

Changes in breast tissue that increase cancer risk

A research team led by James Lorens at the Department of Biomedicine and CCBIO used new technology to determine how breast tissue changes with age may contribute to breast cancer risk. The research is published in Cell Reports, with a commentary on Eureka Alert.

Light microscopic image of breast tissue labelles with fluorescent dyes

Breast tissue stained for a luminal marker (green) and a myoepithelial/basal marker (red).

Photo:

Jonathan Lee

Main content

Updated: 05.03.2020 (First published: 30.04.2018)

Together with researchers in Switzerland and USA, the team discovered that multipotent progenitors - cells with the ability to develop into more than one cell type- accumulate in the breast tissue with age, while normal cells declined. This is understanding is important for improved early detection and treatment. The new technology (mass cytometry) allowed individual breast cells from 57 women aged 16-91 years to be studied at unprecedented resolution.

Original publication

High-Dimensional Phenotyping Identifies Age-Emergent Cells in Human Mammary Epithelia

Fanny A. Pelissier Vatter, Denis Schapiro, Hang Chang, Alexander D. Borowsky, Jonathan K. Lee, Bahram Parvin, Martha R. Stampfer, Mark A. LaBarge, Bernd Bodenmiller, James Lorens

Cell Reports, 2018 Apr 24;23(4):1205-1219. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.03.114.

Commentary on Eureka Alert

Changes in breast tissue increase cancer risk for older women

James Lorens lab page at the Department of Biomedicine

Subpopulations partitioning of breast cancer cells

Lorens/Aarsaether Lab

James Lorens / Niels Aarsaether - The Lorens lab studies molecular mechanisms of cell communication that impact disease, in particular interactions in the tumor-immune microenvironment, and develops new therapeutic concepts.