Dec. 17, 2012 Human breast cancer cells growing in the lab on a
three-dimensional (3-D) extracellular matrix reverted to a
normal phenotype when subjected to compression force applied by
an elastic chamber, researchers reported on Dec. 17 at the
American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting in San
Francisco. Gautham Venugopalan, PhD, of the University of
California, Berkeley, bioengineering lab of Daniel Fletcher,
PhD, described how applying compressive force to malignant
breast epithelial cells growing within a laminin-rich 3-D
extracellular matrix caused them to turn into highly organized,
growth-arrested acini, the milk-secreting spherical structures
that are central to breast tissue. This "phenotypic reversion"
was accomplished without pharmacological agents, noted Dr.
Venugopalan. Research collaborators included Kandice Tanner,
PhD, and Mina Bissell, PhD, of the Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory in Berkeley. During a woman's reproductive life,
breast tissue continuously grows, shrinks, and remodel