Isolation and characterisation of novel progenitor cells in the mammary epithelium and their role during carcinogenesis.

乳房中的干细胞和祖细胞是未成熟细胞，成熟细胞就是从这些细胞中衍生出来的。它们寿命长，能抵抗死亡，并能产生多种类型的成熟细胞，这意味着它们可能是乳腺癌的起源细胞。我们的目标是寻找新的细胞表面标记来定义小鼠乳腺中的祖细胞。从这个项目中收集的数据可能有助于开发针对乳腺癌起源细胞的靶向治疗。

Stem and progenitor cells in the breast are the immature cells from which mature cells are derived. Their are long-lived, resistant to death and can produce multiple types of mature cells, implicating them as cells from which breast cancer may originate. We aim to search for novel cell surface markers that define the progenitor cells in the mouse mammary gland. The data gathered from this project may facilitate the development of targeted therapies to the cells of origin in breast cancer.