Normal breast tissue at risk for cancer development: A breast cancer initiating role for mammary adipocytes

Adipocytes are the predominant cell population in the normal breast and while recent attention has pointed to adipocyte-tumor cell crosstalk as a driver of breast cancer biology there have been few reports on the potential role of adipocytes in driving breast cancer initiation. Because normal breast tissue studies have invariably used reduction mammoplasty, benign biopsy or cancer-adjacent tissues, we studied random breast core biopsy samples donated by 145 healthy, parous, non-obese, white women (median age = 45, range 27-66 y) without any history of breast cancer. Using questionnaire data to calculate future breast cancer risk (Gail scores), we compared digitized microscopic breast tissue (HE 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3314.