Human Breast Tissue Grown on Mice

U.S. researchers have grown lumps of human breast tissue in laboratory mice in an attempt to learn more about how cancer develops.

The researchers from the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research said although cancer is commonly induced in genetically engineered mice, animal diseases differ from their human counterparts. So the researchers sought to transplant human breast tissue into mice to make a better cancer model, the British journal Nature’s online Science Update reported Tuesday. They transplanted two types of human breast cells into the mice, one of which had been blasted with radiation. The cells grew into human-like breast tissues, complete with milk ducts. Unlike human breasts, however, the tissue growths sat flush to the chest on the mice, instead of protruding, as in human females.(Source: United Press International: MedLine Plus: March 2004)