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01-10-2010 | Viewpoint

Mammary stem cells and cancer: roles of Wnt signaling in plain view

Authors: Alexander M Many, Anthony MC Brown

Published in: Breast Cancer Research | Issue 5/2010

Abstract

The likely roles of Wnt signaling in regulating mammary stem cell behavior have been much discussed, in part because they may underlie the oncogenic effects of Wnt signaling in mammary tissue. Two recent papers add important data to this field. One tests directly the effects of purified Wnt protein on mouse mammary stem cells in culture and finds a specific increase in the proportion of cells with self-renewing stem cell phenotypes. The second identifies a novel target gene of canonical Wnt signaling that may be expressed in stem cells and is induced in both mouse and human mammary tumors associated with Wnt pathway activation.

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Title: Mammary stem cells and cancer: roles of Wnt signaling in plain view
Authors: Alexander M Many
Anthony MC Brown
Publication date: 01-10-2010
Publisher: BioMed Central
Published in: Breast Cancer Research / Issue 5/2010
Electronic ISSN: 1465-542X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/bcr2631

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