Embryonic Programs in Cancer and Metastasis—Insights From the Mammary Gland

Page view(s)
64
Checked on Aug 10, 2025
Embryonic Programs in Cancer and Metastasis—Insights From the Mammary Gland
Title:
Embryonic Programs in Cancer and Metastasis—Insights From the Mammary Gland
Journal Title:
Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology
Authors:
Publication Date:
29 June 2022
Citation:
Lee, M. Y. (2022). Embryonic Programs in Cancer and Metastasis—Insights From the Mammary Gland. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2022.938625
Abstract:
Cancer is characterized as a reversion of a differentiated cell to a primitive cell state that recapitulates, in many aspects, features of embryonic cells. This review explores the current knowledge of developmental mechanisms that are essential for embryonic mouse mammary gland development, with a particular focus on genes and signaling pathway components that are essential for the induction, morphogenesis, and lineage specification of the mammary gland. The roles of these same genes and signaling pathways in mammary gland or breast tumorigenesis and metastasis are then summarized. Strikingly, key embryonic developmental pathways are often reactivated or dysregulated during tumorigenesis and metastasis in processes such as aberrant proliferation, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and stem cell potency which affects cellular lineage hierarchy. These observations are in line with findings from recent studies using lineage tracing as well as bulk- and single-cell transcriptomics that have uncovered features of embryonic cells in cancer and metastasis through the identification of cell types, cell states and characterisation of their dynamic changes. Given the many overlapping features and similarities of the molecular signatures of normal development and cancer, embryonic molecular signatures could be useful prognostic markers for cancer. In this way, the study of embryonic development will continue to complement the understanding of the mechanisms of cancer and aid in the discovery of novel therapeutic targets and strategies.
License type:
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Funding Info:
There was no specific funding for the research done
Description:
ISSN:
2296-634X
Files uploaded:

File Size Format Action
fcell-10-938625.pdf 2.20 MB PDF Open