New 3D model will help research

A TEAM of researchers from a South Wales university has succeeded in creating a 3D mammary gland model that will pave the way for a better understanding of the mechanisms of breast cancer.

Using a cocktail of growth factors, scientists were able to grow mouse mammary cells into three-dimensional mammary tissue.

Known as an ‘organoid’, the model mimics the structure and function of a real mammary gland.

This enables researchers to increase their understanding of how breast tissue develops, and provides an active model for the study of disease and drug screening.

As well as determining how to grow these lifelike mammary glands, researchers also discovered how to maintain them in culture to allow ongoing experimentation – the first time this has been developed in a laboratory.

Professor Trevor Dale of Cardiff University School of Biosciences said: “Much of how breast tissues respond to external stimuli such as hormones is, as yet, unknown.

“In order to fully tackle the mechanisms that lie behind breast cancer we first need to understand how healthy breast tissue develops.

“As such, developing a model of a normal breast with the actual architecture of a mammary gland has long been a ‘Holy Grail’ for cancer researchers.”