Tag Archives: developmental

How breast cancer usurps powers of mammary stem cells — ScienceDaily

Writing in the August 11, 2014 issue of Developmental Cell, David A. Cheresh, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Pathology and vice-chair for research and development, Jay Desgrosellier, PhD, assistant professor of pathology and colleagues specifically identified a key molecular pathway associated with aggressive breast cancers that is also required for mammary stem cells to promote lactation development during pregnancy. “By understanding a fundamental mechanism of mammary gland development during pregnancy, we have gained a rare insight into how aggressive breast cancer might be treated,” said Cheresh. …

Dysfunctional mitochondria may underlie resistance to radiation therapy

Maxim Frolov, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and colleagues investigated the effects of a mutation in a gene called E2F, which controls other genes responsible for initiating programmed cell death, a normal function in most cells. Cells undergo programmed cell death — or apoptosis — when they are no longer needed, as a normal part of aging, or in response to environmental factors like radiation that damage cellular DNA. …