AT LAST researchers may have found the long-sought stem cells that form the milk-producing tissue within the human breast. The finding raises the possibility of women growing breast tissue to replace what they’ve lost to cancer or surgery.
“They regenerate the different cell types that make up the ductal unit of the breast,” says Mina Bissell of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, who found the cells with Ole William Petersen of the University of Copenhagen. The ductal units are tree-like structures that produce milk, which is supplied to the nipple via ducts. “They’re what makes the breast what it is,” says Bissell. They are…
