The Cancer Stem-Cell Hypothesis of Breast Cancer

Hypotheses regarding the development of malignant diseases are tightly linked to the physiology of organogenesis. This observation has been summarized by Van R. Potter in the British Journal of Cancer making the paradigmatic statement: „Oncogenesis is a partially blocked ontogenesis“ [1]. The female breast is an extremely dynamic organ and this observation can be supported by the extensive structural changes during pregnancy and lactation [2]. Therefore the existence of a mammary epithelial stem-cell as a pivot of specific physiological and pathophysiological changes might be obvious. Several investigations supp…