Cancer Science and Therapy

Breast cancers have been extensively studied, which renders them quite representative of the nature of neoplastic disease. While describing the pathogenesis, one has to consider the organism as a whole, the tumor microenvironment, and the tumor cells proper. The permanent evolution of the organism from the embryonic stage up to senescence can create variable vulnerability factors for the growth of breast cancers, influenced by environmental factors. We have found that a population of fibroblasts in connective tissue has abnormal growth characteristics, which shows that the whole organism participates in the neoplastic process. This population of fibroblasts is present long before the cancer becomes apparent. Micro environmental factors such as genes expressed and factors secreted by stromal cells also influence tumor growth. Gene expression by tumor cells shows that breast cancers are not a single disease and constitute a group of molecularly distinct neoplastic disorders.

Finally, during senescence the incidence of breast cancers declines due to tissue, cellular and molecular modifications occurring

in the organism during the last developmental stage of the human life span.