Francisco J. Esteva: What if the cells you thought were only in cancer could also be in healthy tissue?
Francisco J. Esteva, Chief of Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Lenox Hill Hospital, shared on LinkedIn:
“What if the cells you thought were only in cancer could also be in healthy tissue?
This is what a recent study discovered about aneuploid epithelial cells in normal breast tissues. These cells, often linked to cancer, are present even in healthy women.
Researchers analyzed over 83,000 epithelial cells from 49 healthy women using advanced single-cell DNA sequencing. They found that rare aneuploid cells occurred in all participants, with a median of 3.19% of epithelial cells being aneuploid. This percentage increased with age.
The study revealed that most of these aneuploid cells showed clonal expansions, exhibiting genetic changes similar to those seen in invasive breast cancers. These changes included chromosome gains and losses, indicating potential cancer-like behavior in healthy tissue.
Further investigation showed that these cells were primarily associated with luminal epithelial lineages and were found in specific breast structures. This suggests a complex relationship between normal tissue and potential cancer development.
See link to original article in the comments below.
How might these findings influence our understanding of cancer risk in healthy individuals?”
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