探花直播 of Cambridge - Department of Pharmacology

New vaccine effective against coronaviruses that haven鈥檛 even emerged yet

jg533 — Mon, 06 May 2024 09:00:25 +0000

This is a new approach to vaccine development called 鈥榩roactive vaccinology鈥�, where scientists build a vaccine before the disease-causing pathogen even emerges.

探花直播new vaccine works by training the body鈥檚 immune system to recognise specific regions of eight different coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2, and several that are currently circulating in bats and have potential to jump to humans and cause a pandemic.

Key to its effectiveness is that the specific virus regions the vaccine targets also appear in many related coronaviruses. By training the immune system to attack these regions, it gives protection against other coronaviruses not represented in the vaccine 鈥� including ones that haven鈥檛 even been identified yet.

For example, the new vaccine does not include the SARS-CoV-1 coronavirus, which caused the 2003 SARS outbreak, yet it still induces an immune response to that virus.

鈥淥ur focus is to create a vaccine that will protect us against the next coronavirus pandemic, and have it ready before the pandemic has even started,鈥� said Rory Hills, a graduate researcher in the 探花直播 of Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Pharmacology and first author of the report.

He added: 鈥淲e鈥檝e created a vaccine that provides protection against a broad range of different coronaviruses 鈥� including ones we don鈥檛 even know about yet.鈥�

探花直播results are published today in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 have to wait for new coronaviruses to emerge. We know enough about coronaviruses, and different immune responses to them, that we can get going with building protective vaccines against unknown coronaviruses now,鈥� said Professor Mark Howarth in the 探花直播 of Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Pharmacology, senior author of the report.

He added: 鈥淪cientists did a great job in quickly producing an extremely effective COVID vaccine during the last pandemic, but the world still had a massive crisis with a huge number of deaths. We need to work out how we can do even better than that in the future, and a powerful component of that is starting to build the vaccines in advance.鈥�

聽

探花直播new 鈥楺uartet Nanocage鈥� vaccine is based on a structure called a nanoparticle 鈥� a ball of proteins held together by incredibly strong interactions. Chains of different viral antigens are attached to this nanoparticle using a novel 鈥榩rotein superglue鈥�. Multiple antigens are included in these chains, which trains the immune system to target specific regions shared across a broad range of coronaviruses.

This study demonstrated that the new vaccine raises a broad immune response, even in mice that were pre-immunised with SARS-CoV-2.

探花直播new vaccine is much simpler in design than other broadly protective vaccines currently in development, which the researchers say should accelerate its route into clinical trials.

探花直播underlying technology they have developed also has potential for use in vaccine development to protect against many other health challenges.

探花直播work involved a collaboration between scientists at the 探花直播 of Cambridge, the 探花直播 of Oxford, and Caltech. It improves on previous work, by the Oxford and Caltech groups, to develop a novel all-in-one vaccine against coronavirus threats. 探花直播vaccine developed by Oxford and Caltech should enter Phase 1 clinical trials in early 2025, but its complex nature makes it challenging to manufacture which could limit large-scale production.

Conventional vaccines include a single antigen to train the immune system to target a single specific virus. This may not protect against a diverse range of existing coronaviruses, or against pathogens that are newly emerging.

探花直播research was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

Reference: Hills, R A et al: 鈥�Proactive vaccination using multiviral Quartet Nanocages to elicit broad anti-coronavirus responses.鈥� Nature Nanotechnology, May 2024. DOI: 10.1038/s41565-024-01655-9

Researchers have developed a new vaccine technology that has been shown in mice to provide protection against a broad range of coronaviruses with potential for future disease outbreaks - including ones we don鈥檛 even know about

Our focus is to create a vaccine that will protect us against the next coronavirus pandemic, and have it ready before the pandemic has even started.

Rory Hills

Stefan Cristian Cioata on Getty

Syringe and vaccine bottle

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright 漏探花直播 of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways 鈥� on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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鈥楨xhausted鈥� immune cells in healthy women could be target for breast cancer prevention

jg533 — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 10:03:44 +0000

Everyone has BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, but mutations in these genes - which can be inherited - increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

探花直播study found that the immune cells in breast tissue of healthy women carrying BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations show signs of malfunction known as 鈥榚xhaustion鈥�. This suggests that the immune cells can鈥檛 clear out damaged breast cells, which can eventually develop into breast cancer.

This is the first time that 鈥榚xhausted鈥� immune cells have been reported in non-cancerous breast tissues at such scale - normally these cells are only found in late-stage tumours.

探花直播results raise the possibility of using existing immunotherapy drugs as early intervention to prevent breast cancer developing, in carriers of BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations.

探花直播researchers have received a 鈥�Biology to Prevention Award鈥� from Cancer Research UK to trial this preventative approach in mice. If effective, this will pave the way to a pilot clinical trial in women carrying BRCA gene mutations.

鈥淥ur results suggest that in carriers of BRCA mutations, the immune system is failing to kill off damaged breast cells - which in turn seem to be working to keep these immune cells at bay,鈥� said Professor Walid Khaled in the 探花直播 of Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Pharmacology and Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, senior author of the report.

He added: 鈥淲e鈥檙e very excited about this discovery, because it opens up potential for a preventative treatment other than surgery for carriers of BRCA breast cancer gene mutations.

鈥淒rugs already exist that can overcome this block in immune cell function, but so far, they鈥檝e only been approved for late-stage disease. No-one has really considered using them in a preventative way before.鈥�

探花直播results are published today in the journal Nature Genetics.

Risk-reducing surgery, in which the breasts are removed, is offered to those at increased risk of breast cancer. This can be a difficult decision for young women to make and can have a significant effect on body image and sexual relationships.

鈥� 探花直播best way to prevent breast cancer is to really understand how it develops in the first place. Then we can identify these early changes and intervene,鈥� said Khaled.

He added: 鈥淟ate-stage breast cancer tends to be very unpredictable and hard to manage. As we make better and better drugs, the tumours just seem to find a way around it.鈥�

Using samples of healthy breast tissue collected from 55 women across a range of ages, the researchers catalogued over 800,000 cells - including all the different types of breast cell.

探花直播resulting Human Breast Cell Atlas is now available as a resource for other researchers to use and add to. It contains huge amounts of information on other risk factors for breast cancer including Body Mass Index (BMI), menopausal status, contraceptive use and alcohol consumption.

鈥淲e've found that there are multiple breast cell types that change with pregnancy, and with age, and it鈥檚 the combination of these effects - and others - that drives the overall risk of breast cancer,鈥� said Austin Reed, a PhD student in the 探花直播 of Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Pharmacology and joint first author of the report.

He added: 鈥淎s we collect more of this type of information from samples around the world, we can learn more about how breast cancer develops and the impact of different risk factors - with the aim of improving treatment.鈥�

One of the biggest challenges in treating breast cancer is that it is not just one disease, but many. Many different genetic variations can lead to breast cancer, and genetic risk interacts with other risk factors in complicated ways.

For example, it is known that the likelihood of breast cancer increases with age, but this risk is greatly reduced by pregnancy early in life. And age-associated risk is greatly increased in carriers of the breast cancer genes BRCA1 and BRCA2.

探花直播new study aimed to understand how some of these risk factors interact, by characterising the different cell types in the human breast under many different physiological states.

探花直播researchers used a technique called 鈥榮ingle cell RNA-sequencing鈥� to characterise the many different breast cell types and states. Almost all cells in the body have the same set of genes, but only a subset of these are switched on in each cell 鈥� and these determine the cell鈥檚 identity and function. Single cell RNA-sequencing reveals which genes are switched on in individual cells.

鈥淏reast cancer occurs around the world, but social inequalities mean not everyone has access to treatment. Prevention is the most cost-effective approach. It not only tackles inequality, which mostly affects low-income countries, but also improves disease outcome in high-income countries,鈥� said Dr Sara Pensa, Senior Research Associate in the 探花直播 of Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Pharmacology and joint first author of the study.

Breast tissue samples were provided by the Breast Cancer Now tissue bank.

探花直播research was primarily funded by the Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK.

Reference:聽Reed, A.D. et al: 鈥�A human breast cell atlas enables mapping of homeostatic cellular shifts in the adult breast.鈥� Nature Genetics, March聽2024. DOI: 10.1038/s41588-024-01688-9

Researchers at the 探花直播 of Cambridge have created the world鈥檚 largest catalogue of human breast cells, which has revealed early cell changes in healthy carriers of BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations.

We鈥檙e very excited about this discovery, because it opens up potential for a preventative treatment other than surgery for carriers of BRCA breast cancer gene mutations.

Walid Khaled

Angiola Harry on Unsplash

Woman holds pink breast cancer awareness ribbon. Credit angiola-harry-unsplash

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拢3 million UKRI funding to support research into better health, ageing, and wellbeing

cjb250 — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 10:20:56 +0000

UKRI funding of 拢3 million is awarded today to support a new research cluster, as part of the MRC National Mouse Genetics Network (MRC NMGN), focused on improving existing models of ageing with the aim of improving lifelong health and wellbeing. 探花直播cluster is led by scientists at the Universities of Cambridge and Newcastle.

探花直播MRC NMGN focuses on age-related biological changes in model organisms, particularly the mouse, to try and improve our understanding and diagnosis of the most challenging disease area of our time - and generate therapeutic avenues.

This award brings the UKRI鈥檚 total investment in the MRC NMGN to 拢25 million.

探花直播need to improve how people age has become a major requirement of modern societies. Regular increases in life expectancy result in older populations, making healthy ageing essential for a better quality of life and a reduced burden on health and social services.聽

Understanding the biological mechanisms underlying the ageing process is paramount for tackling the challenges brought about by our older populations.

探花直播new tools generated as a result of this research will be made available to the scientific community to improve understanding of the ageing process, and to provide a resource for preclinical testing and intervention.

Professor Walid Khaled from Cambridge鈥檚 Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute and Department of Pharmacology, and Co-lead of the new MRC National Mouse Genetics Network Ageing Cluster, said: 鈥淚 am very pleased to be co-leading this project from Cambridge and I am looking forward to working with the rest of the team from around the UK. 鈥楶revention is better than cure鈥� and so our project will generate a reference map that we will use in the future to assess interventions that could prevent聽ageing聽related health decline.鈥�

Professor Anne Ferguson-Smith, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research & International Partnerships) and Arthur Balfour Professor of Genetics at Cambridge, said: "Collaboration is central to our research activities in Cambridge. 探花直播new Ageing Cluster is a fine example of multiple institutions working together to add value and bring exciting new insight and expertise to advance the critically important field of healthy ageing. I am proud to be part of this important initiative which can deliver new routes to improved health span."

Professor David Burn, Pro Vice Chancellor, Faculty of Medical Sciences at Newcastle 探花直播, added: "I am delighted that Newcastle 探花直播 is an important part of the UKRI Mouse Genetics Network Ageing Cluster.聽 This cluster offers researchers the opportunity to develop new animal models so that we may better understand聽ageing.聽 This, in turn, will allow us to translate this research into extending healthy lifespan in humans in the future.鈥�

探花直播探花直播 is bringing together its world leading expertise to tackle the topic of extending the healthy lifespan. Scientists in the School of Biological Sciences are addressing some of the biggest questions in human biology, including: What if we could identify those at risk of developing chronic age-related conditions before they present in the clinic? What if we could intervene before any symptoms arise and prevent disease onset?

UKRI鈥檚 strategy for 2022-2027 aims to harness the full power of the UK鈥檚聽research and innovation system to tackle major聽national and global challenges. A total of 拢75m has been allocated to the theme of Securing better health, ageing and wellbeing, which aims to improve population health, tackle the health inequalities affecting people and communities, and advance interventions that keep us healthier for longer.

探花直播探花直播 of Cambridge has received UKRI funding for research on age-related biological changes in model organisms as part of a national collaboration.

鈥楶revention is better than cure鈥� and so our project will generate a reference map that we will use in the future to assess interventions that could prevent聽ageing聽related health decline

Walid Khaled

Lauren Christy Pitcher ( 探花直播 Biomedical Services)

White mouse

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Ageing: can we add more life to our years?

jg533 — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 08:59:28 +0000

Research advances at the 探花直播 of Cambridge mean that the eternal quest to reverse the march of time may soon become a reality.

Cambridge researchers recognised as Future Leaders by UKRI

lw355 — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 09:23:43 +0000

Future Leaders Fellowships are awarded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to support universities and businesses in developing their most talented early career researchers and innovators, and to attract new people to their organisations, including from overseas.

探花直播75 'most promising research leaders'聽recognised today by UKRI will benefit from 拢101 million to tackle major global issues and to commercialise their innovations in the UK.

UKRI Chief Executive, Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser, said: 鈥淯KRI鈥檚 Future Leaders Fellowships provide researchers and innovators with long-term support and training, giving them the freedom to explore adventurous new ideas, and to build dynamic careers that break down the boundaries between sectors and disciplines.

鈥� 探花直播fellows announced today illustrate how this scheme empowers talented researchers and innovators to build the diverse and connected research and innovation system we need to shorten the distance between discovery and prosperity across the UK.鈥�

探花直播four Cambridge researchers are:

Dr Alecia-Jane Twigger (Department of Pharmacology) (pictured)

Breastfeeding has been highlighted by the World Health Organization (WHO) as 鈥渙ne of the most effective ways to ensure child health and survival鈥�. A major priority of the WHO is to increase the global rate of exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months up to at least 50% by 2025. However, many mothers worry about low milk production 鈥� a major driver for mothers switching to formula feeding. With funding provided by the Future Leaders Fellowship, Dr Twigger will establish state-of-the-art models of lactation with the aim of developing and trialling treatments to support low-milk production mothers in partnership with breastfeeding advocates and clinical stakeholders.

Dr Amy Orben (MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit and Fellow of聽St John's College)

Dr Amy Orben will pinpoint how social media use might be linked to mental health risk in teenagers, a time when we are especially susceptible to developing mental health conditions. She will use a range of innovative techniques to study technological designs, such as the quantification of social feedback through 鈥榣ike鈥� counts, that could be problematic and therefore a target for future regulation. As a UKRI Future Leader Fellow, Dr Orben will also collaborate flexibly with youth, policymakers and charities to swiftly address pressing questions about social media and technology, helping to safeguard young people.

Dr Anna Moore (Department of Psychiatry)

Seventy percent of children suffering mental health problems are unable to access services and those who can are waiting longer than ever for help. Working with children, families and Cambridge Children鈥檚 Hospital project, Dr Anna Moore is developing easy-to-use digital tools to revolutionise mental health treatment for the young, by helping clinicians diagnose conditions much earlier. 探花直播system, called Timely, will use AI to analyse patient data, joining the dots to spot the early signs of mental health conditions. 探花直播tool will be designed to reduce health inequality, improve service efficiency and ensure data use is ethical and publicly acceptable.

Dr Niamh Gallagher (Faculty of History and Fellow of St Catharine鈥檚 College)

Dr Gallagher will lead ground-breaking historical research into one of the greatest geopolitical transformations of the 20th century, the disappearance of the British Empire, by investigating how Ireland, the Irish and a series of so-called 鈥業rish Questions鈥� influenced the multifarious 'ends' of the Empire, from 1886 to today. With partners spanning education, public policy and the media, this research will produce a series of innovative outputs and shareable recommendations that facilitate pathways to cohesion in post-conflict Northern Ireland and enhance British鈥揑rish relations in the aftermath of Brexit.

Four researchers are among the UK鈥檚鈥渕ost promising research leaders鈥� who will benefit from 拢101 million聽from UKRI to tackle major global issues and commercialise their innovations.

探花直播fellows announced today illustrate how this scheme empowers talented researchers and innovators to build the diverse and connected research and innovation system we need to shorten the distance between discovery and prosperity across the UK.

Ottoline Leyser, UKRI Chief Executive

Alecia-Jane Twigger, one of the Future Leaders

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright 漏探花直播 of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified.聽 All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways 鈥� as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Mole-rats: meet the Ugly Naked Guys

jg533 — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 08:38:57 +0000

Understanding their weirdness could help prevent and better treat human illnesses like arthritis and cancer.

Live cells discovered in human breast milk could aid breast cancer research

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 10:00:04 +0000

探花直播study was led by researchers from the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute (CSCI) and the Department of Pharmacology at the 探花直播 of Cambridge.

Breast tissue is dynamic, changing over time during puberty, pregnancy, breastfeeding and aging. 探花直播paper, published today in the journal Nature Communications, focuses on the changes that take place during lactation by investigating cells found in human milk.聽

This research, led by Dr Alecia-Jane Twigger of CSCI, found that the cells in milk, once thought to be dead or dying, are in fact very much alive. These living cells provide researchers with the chance to study not only the changes that occur in mammary tissues during lactation, but also insight into a potential early indicator of future breast cancer development.聽

鈥淚 believe that by studying human milk cells, we will be able to answer some of the most fundamental questions around mammary gland function such as: how is milk produced? Why do some women struggle to make milk? and what strategies can be employed to improve breastfeeding outcomes for women?鈥� said Dr Alecia-Jane Twigger at the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, who led the study.

探花直播researchers collected voluntary breast milk samples from lactating women, as well as samples of non-lactating breast tissue donated from women who elected to have aesthetic breast reduction surgery. Using single-cell RNA sequencing analysis, the team conducted a novel comparison of the composition of the mammary cells taken using these two methods, identifying the distinctions between lactating and non-lactating human mammary glands.

While accessing breast tissue for study relies on donors already undergoing surgery, breast milk samples are much simpler to acquire. Breast milk donors are engaged via midwives or women鈥檚 networks (an undertaking made more challenging by the pandemic) and agree to share their samples over time. Typical daily production for lactating women is between 750-800ml, and the sample size for Twigger鈥檚 research is on average a mere 50ml, an amount which can contain hundreds of thousands of cells for study.聽

By collecting these samples donated by breastfeeding women 鈥� samples now known to contain living and viable cells 鈥� researchers have the opportunity to capture dynamic cells in a non-invasive way. This greater ease of access to breast cells can open the door to more studies on women鈥檚 health in the future.聽

鈥� 探花直播first time Alecia told me that she found live cells in milk I was surprised and excited about the possibilities. We hope this finding will enable future studies into the early steps of breast cancer,鈥� said Dr Walid Khaled, at the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute and 探花直播 of Cambridge's Department of Pharmacology, who was also involved in the study.

This paper and its findings are part of the Human Breast Cell Atlas project funded by the MRC.

This research was funded by the MRC, BBSRC and Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute.聽

Reference: Twigger, A, et al.: 鈥�Transcriptional changes in the mammary gland during lactation revealed by single cell sequencing of cells from human milk.鈥� Nature Communications, Jan 2022. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27895-0

Researchers have explored the cellular changes that occur in human mammary tissue in lactating and non-lactating women, offering insight into the relationship between pregnancy, lactation and breast cancer.聽

We hope this finding will enable future studies into the early steps of breast cancer

Walid Khaled

Jamie Grill/ 探花直播Image Bank

Breast milk in bottles

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright 漏探花直播 of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified.聽 All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways 鈥� as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Changes can be detected in BRCA1 breast cells before they turn cancerous

jg533 — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 09:17:18 +0000

探花直播study, funded by Cancer Research UK, showed that before becoming cancerous, breast cells with the BRCA1 gene mutation undergo changes similar to those normally seen in late pregnancy.

Although this is early research, in the future聽doctors could screen women with BRCA1 mutations to monitor changes to their breast cells, which could help inform who might benefit from preventative surgery, and to give reassurance to those who can wait.

BRCA1 mutations significantly increase the risk of developing breast cancer at a younger age. Many women who discover they carry the faulty gene choose to have a preventative mastectomy.聽This involves surgically removing some or all of the healthy breast tissue, which can reduce but not eradicate the risk of developing breast cancer.

Not all women who have BRCA1 mutations will go on to develop cancer so for some, this life-changing surgery may be unnecessary, or could at least be delayed until early warning signs are spotted.

Researchers聽led by Karsten Bach and Dr Sara Pensa at the 探花直播 of Cambridge聽wanted to develop a method to detect the early changes occurring in BRCA1-affected breast cells indicating that they are progressing towards breast cancer. 聽

探花直播team analysed the mammary tissue of 15 mice at various ages carrying the BRCA1 mutation to look for changes in the tissue that were happening before the mice developed tumours.

探花直播researchers found that having a BRCA1 mutation triggered certain pathways to be switched on in a type of stem cell called a luminal progenitor breast cell that are only activated during pregnancy. These messages tell the progenitor cell to turn into alveolar cells, which make up the chambers in the breast where milk-production takes place during late pregnancy.

Karsten Bach, co-author on the study and PhD student at the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, said: 鈥淲e thought we鈥檇 been given the wrong mice at first. Then we realised that having the BRCA1 mutation seemed to cause the cells in their breast tissue to behave as if the mouse was pregnant.

鈥� 探花直播changes we saw happened very early on before any tumours were detected, so we reasoned that markers of these cellular changes could be used to monitor people who we know are at increased risk for breast cancer.鈥�

Next the team analysed breast cells from 12 women who had a BRCA1 mutation and had undergone a preventative mastectomy.

Surprisingly, the team found that only 4 out of the 12 women had detectable levels of these markers of early stages of tumour initiation. This suggests that the majority of women may have been at lower risk of already being on the path towards tumour development when they had the surgery.

Dr Sara Pensa co-author and Senior Research Associate at the Department of Pharmacology and Wellcome-MRC Stem Cell Institute, said: 鈥淥ne of the mysteries surrounding BRCA gene mutations is how they increase a woman's risk of cancer so dramatically in the breast tissue, as opposed to say the kidneys or lung. It seems that certain pathways in breast cells that are usually switched on by hormones during pregnancy are triggered by BRCA1 mutations and cause the cells to grow out of control.鈥�

Although this is early work and larger clinical trials will be needed, the researchers hope to build on their findings and develop a blood test to detect the early changes occurring in BRCA1 breast cells.

Researchers say in the future, doctors could screen at-risk women with BRCA1 mutations, and help them have informed conversations with women about their risk, guide decisions about preventative surgery, and to give reassurance to those considered not to need surgery at that time.

Michelle Mitchell, chief executive for Cancer Research UK, said: 鈥� 探花直播discovery of BRCA mutations gave much needed answers to families with a strong history of breast cancer. However, for women that carry the BRCA mutation that are yet to develop breast cancer, they face an incredibly difficult dilemma. 聽

鈥淭his is fascinating research, and we look forward to seeing the next steps, which could mean in the future, doctors could detect if women carrying these mutations have breast cells that are behaving differently. This could make a world of difference, as they may not need preventative surgery until later in life, or even at all.鈥�

Reference

Bach K. &聽Pensa S. et al.'Time-resolved single-cell analysis of Brca1 associated mammary tumourigenesis reveals aberrant differentiation of luminal progenitors.' Nature Communications, March 2021.

Original press release by Cancer Research UK (CRUK).

Researchers may have found the earliest changes that occur in seemingly healthy breast tissue long before any tumours appear, according to a new study published today聽in the journal Nature Communications.

It seems that certain pathways in breast cells that are usually switched on by hormones during pregnancy are triggered by BRCA1 mutations and cause the cells to grow out of control.

Sara Pensa

slgckgc on Flickr

Mammogram image

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