OBJECTIVE Previous work has suggested that white adipocytes may also show a mammary luminal secretory cell phenotype during lactation. The capacity of brown and beige/brite adipocytes to display a mammary cell phenotype and the levels at which they demonstrate such phenotypes in vivo is currently unknown. METHODS To investigate the putative adipocyte origin of mammary gland cells, we performe...

In the functionally differentiated mammary gland, basal myoepithelial cells contract to eject the milk produced by luminal epithelial cells from the body. We report that conditional deletion of a laminin receptor, α3β1 integrin, from myoepithelial cells leads to low rates of milk ejection due to a contractility defect but does not interfere with the integrity or functional differentiation of th...

Acrosyringium, duct and secretory epithelium as well as myoepithelial cells of human eccrine sweat glands have been characterized by different immunostaining patterns with mono- and polyclonal antibodies to a wide spectrum of tissue antigens. Using monoclonal antibodies to neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and melanoma-associated antigens (LS 59, HMB-45, NKI/C-3) the expression of neuroectodermal a...

Myoepithelial tumors of the soft tissues represent a rare group of neoplasms that vary in their clinical behavior, pathologic features and genetics. They are histopathologically typified by a myoepithelial immunohistochemical phenotype, of expression of one or more epithelial markers, S100 protein and smooth muscle actin. Because of their rarity and occurrence over a wide age range and at a var...

We present what is believed to be the first report of heterogeneous carcinoma arising from breast ductal adenoma. A 57-year-old woman presented with a nodule in her right breast. Histological examination of a vacuum-assisted biopsy specimen revealed epithelial tubular proliferation and papillary apocrine epithelium. The myoepithelial cells lining the tubules were confirmed by immunohistochemist...

Epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma (EMC) is a rare biphasic tumor accounting for less than 2% of all salivary gland malignancies. It presents as a slowly growing, asymptomatic small size mass, with ulceration of overlying mucosa in some cases. Microscopically, it is characterized by glands lined by the simultaneous presence of two different cell components, inner epithelial cells and outer myoe...

The presence of naked nuclei (NN) in cytological preparations of fibroadenomas is a well-known finding. Regardless of their importance on the differential diagnosis of fibroadenoma and other benign lesions of the breast, the origin of NN remains elusive. Despite previous efforts to characterize them, the lack of a reliable nuclear marker for myoepithelial cells impaired definitive conclusions. ...

p63, a p53 homologue nuclear transcription factor was expressed in basal cells of multilayered epithelia and myoepithelial cells of the breast. 14-3-3 was a putative tumour suppressor gene, transactivated by p53 in response to DNA damage and immunohistochemically demonstrated that 14-3-3 was consistently expressed in the cytoplasmic compartment and occasionally in the nuclei of myoepithelial ...

Adenomyoepithelioma (AME) is a rare benign tumor composed of myoepithelial cells (MECs) which are located beneath the epithelial cells of exocrine glands, especially in breast and salivary glands. These tumor cells show biphasic proliferation of epithelial and MECs. Malignant AME is characterized by distant metastasis, local recurrence, cytologic atypia, high mitotic activity and infiltrating t...