Scientists grow mini breasts to study cancer

Studying how human cancers spread and evolve is a complicated business. To provide a laboratory platform in which the growth of cancer can be monitored, researchers have been trying to construct organelles modeled on real organs within which cancer can proliferate.
In a new development on that front, at the Helmholtz Centre in Munich, Germany scientists are now growing three dimensional “mini breasts” derived from individual human epithelial cells. They are using collagen gels that provide the foundation within which the cells can divide and grow.



By using gels of different rigidities, they’ve been able to study what kinds of mammary gland tissues are most welcoming for the spread of cancer.
While they’re not actually growing cancerous lesions, the researchers are looking at how normal stem cells are able to do their work in different gel environments. That is because cancer cells take on similar properties as healthy stem cells to proliferate, and the researchers have already identified some interesting facts.