In situ malignant transformation and progenitor-mediated cell budding: Two different pathways for breast ductal and lobular tumor invasion

Abstract

The human breast lobular and ductal structures and the derived tumors from these structures differ substantial in their morphology, microenvironment, biological presen-tation, functions, and clinical prognosis. Based on these differences, we have proposed that pre-invasive lobular tumors may progress to invasive lesions through "in situ ma-lignant transformation", in which the entire myoepithelial cell layer within a given lobule or lobular clusters undergoes extensive degeneration and disruptions, which allows the entire epithelial cell population associated with these myoepithelial cell layers directly invade the stroma or vascular structures. In contrast, pre-invasive ductal tumors may invade the stroma or vascular structures through "progenitor-mediated cell budding", in which focal myoepithelial cell degeneration-induced aberrant leukocyte infiltration causes focal disruptions in the tumor capsules, which selectively favor monoclonal pro-liferation of the overlying tumor stem cells or a biologically more aggressive cell clone. Our current study attempted to provide more direct morphological and immunohisto-chemical data that are consistent with our hypotheses. © Ivyspring International Publisher.