Boob Jobs Helped Scientists Grow Breasts In a Lab

by Monica Joshi

Growing tissue in petri dishes has become a new pastime for the scientists. They have already grown edible meat, entire rat arms and even mini brains. Now, they're growing mammary glands, i.e. breast tissue, where most types of breast cancer are known to occur. Get this: they were able to do this only by studying the breast tissue left over from breast reduction surgeries.

Researchers from Munich's Helmholtz Centre for Health and Environmental Research have figured out how to grow them by using samples from breast reduction surgeries.

The research, published last week in the journal Development, seeks to find the causes of regeneration of cells in mammary tissues. When a girl goes through puberty, mammary tissues form a complex of milk ducts that constantly change throughout her life. This is especially true when she has children. However, scientists are unclear on how these tissues regenerate or change over time.

The research aimed to have a better understanding of the tissue, so the scientists grew it.

To create the breast tissue in the lab, researchers placed tissue removed during breast reduction surgeries in a gel of collagen fiber, which is a common protein that forms connections between cells. The tissue cells then spread out, pulling on the collagen. This created enough physical force to create a cohesive tissue.

The lab-grown glands are already shedding light on the kinds of tissue where cancers are most likely to grow, as they are being used to analyze the growth, the speed of growth and the possible ways to prevent growth in specific kinds of tissue. In the past, researchers had found that there were more cancers in stiff connective tissue. However, initial tests in previous studies have suggested that stiff tissue might be a normal part of breast development.

Christina Scheel, one of the researchers behind the project, said that:

“If you want to repair a broken car, you have to know how it works. Breast cancer is essentially out-of-control development.”

These findings could help researchers develop better breast cancer treatments, as breast cancer currently affects thousands of women and even a few men each year.