Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2013 Oct 1;1(4):e25933.
doi: 10.4161/tisb.25933. Epub 2013 Aug 9.

Ductal barriers in mammary epithelium

Mark B Owens  1 , Arnold Dk Hill  1 , Ann M Hopkins  1
Affiliations
Review

Ductal barriers in mammary epithelium

Mark B Owens et al. Tissue Barriers. .

Abstract

Tissue barriers play an integral role in the biology and pathobiology of mammary ductal epithelium. In normal breast physiology, tight and adherens junctions undergo dynamic changes in permeability in response to hormonal and other stimuli, while several of their proteins are directly involved in mammary tumorigenesis. This review describes first the structure of mammary ductal epithelial barriers and their role in normal mammary development, examining the cyclical changes in response to puberty, pregnancy, lactation and involution. It then examines the role of adherens and tight junctions and the participation of their constituent proteins in mammary tumorigenic functions such as migration, invasion and metastasis. Finally, it discusses the potential of these adhesion proteins as both prognostic biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets in breast cancer.

Keywords: adhesion; breast cancer; breast ductal epithelium; breast epithelial barrier; breast tumorigenesis; hormones; mammary epithelium; metastasis; tight junctions.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

None
Figure 1. Normal physiology of the human breast.
None
Figure 2. Cell-cell adhesion complexes in the breast epithelial barrier.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Ferlay J, Shin H, Bray F, Forman D, Mathers C, Parkin D. GLOBOCAN 2008 v1.2, Cancer Incidence and Mortality Worldwide: IARC CancerBase No. 10 [Internet]. 2010 [cited; Available from: http://globocan.iarc.fr
    1. Brennan K, Offiah G, McSherry EA, Hopkins AM. Tight junctions: a barrier to the initiation and progression of breast cancer? J Biomed Biotechnol. 2010;2010:460607. doi: 10.1155/2010/460607. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ramsay DT, Kent JC, Hartmann RA, Hartmann PE. Anatomy of the lactating human breast redefined with ultrasound imaging. J Anat. 2005;206:525–34. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2005.00417.x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Guinebretière JM, Menet E, Tardivon A, Cherel P, Vanel D. Normal and pathological breast, the histological basis. Eur J Radiol. 2005;54:6–14. doi: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2004.11.020. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Schneeberger EE, Lynch RD. The tight junction: a multifunctional complex. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2004;286:C1213–28. doi: 10.1152/ajpcell.00558.2003. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources