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BRCA1 and stem cells: tumour typecasting

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Phenotypic variation between tumour types is likely to reflect the nature of the cell of origin and the genes involved in pathogenesis. Compared with most sporadic breast cancers, those arising in carriers of BRCA1 mutations usually have distinctive pathological characteristics. A new study suggests that a role for BRCA1 in the determination of stem-cell fate may explain this phenomenon.

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Figure 1: Schematic representations of gross macroscopic structure and cellular level organization of the mouse and human mammary epithelium.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Matthew J. Smalley, Jorge S. Reis-Filho and Alan Ashworth are at The Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre, The Institute of Cancer Research, Fulham Road, London, SW3 6JB, UK. Alan.Ashworth@icr.ac.uk Matthew.Smalley@icr.ac.uk Jorge.Reis-Filho@icr.ac.uk,

    Matthew J. Smalley, Jorge S. Reis-Filho & Alan Ashworth

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  1. Matthew J. Smalley
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  2. Jorge S. Reis-Filho
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  3. Alan Ashworth
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Smalley, M., Reis-Filho, J. & Ashworth, A. BRCA1 and stem cells: tumour typecasting. Nat Cell Biol 10, 377–379 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb0408-377

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