Similar to other metastatic cancers, loss of E-cadherin is a feature of invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC), a common form of breast cancer that is often not detected until late stages because the invasive cells are not mass-forming. How E-cadherin loss is linked to tumour development in ILC and in other cancers is still unclear. Derksen et al. report a new mouse model of human ILC in which E-cadherin and p53 are conditionally inactivated in mammary epithelial cells. These mice exhibit several features of human ILC, including invasive, metastatic mammary tumours that develop in a lactation-independent manner.
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Written by editorial staff. © 2011. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.
2011
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