Studying Mammary Physiology and Pathology in Domestic Species Benefits Both Humans and Animals

Hughes, Katherine

doi:10.1007/s10911-023-09547-9

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…As mammary tumourigenesis is rare in sheep (Hughes, 2021b;Newman et al, 2021;Rauner, 2024), the male ovine gland does not offer a direct model for male breast cancer, but it will facilitate furthering understanding of normal male mammary biology to use in comparative studies. In addition, the relative resistance of the sheep to development of mammary tumours may be a further fruitful avenue of future comparative study (Hughes, 2023).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An ovine model for investigation of the microenvironment of the male mammary gland

Davies,

Crew,

Cochrane

et al. 2024

Journal of Anatomy

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The specific biology of the male breast remains relatively unexplored in spite of the increasing global prevalence of male breast cancer. Delineation of the microenvironment of the male breast is restricted by the low availability of human samples and a lack of characterisation of appropriate animal models. Unlike the mouse, the male ovine gland persists postnatally. We suggest that the male ovine mammary gland constitutes a promising adjunctive model for the male breast. In this study, we evaluate the male ovine mammary gland microenvironment, comparing intact and neutered males. Assessment of the glandular histo‐anatomy highlights the resemblance of the male gland to that of neonatal female sheep and confirms the presence of rudimentary terminal duct lobular units. Irrespective of neutered status, cell proliferation in epithelial and stromal compartments is similarly low in males, and cell proliferation in epithelial cells and in the intralobular stroma is significantly lower than in pubertal female sheep. Between 42% and 72% of the luminal mammary epithelial cells in the male gland express the androgen receptor and expression is significantly reduced by neutering. Luminal epithelial cells within the intact and neutered male gland also express oestrogen receptor alpha, but minimal progesterone receptor expression is observed. The distribution of leukocytes within the ducts and stroma is similar to the mammary gland of female sheep and females of other species. Both macrophages and T lymphocytes are intercalated in the epithelial bilayer and are more abundant in the intralobular stroma than the interlobular stroma, suggesting that they may have a protective immunological function within the vestigial glandular tissue of the male sheep. Mast cells are also observed within the stroma. These cells cluster near the glandular tissue and are frequently located adjacent to blood vessels. The abundance of mast cells is significantly higher in intact males compared to neutered males, suggesting that hormone signalling may impact mast cell recruitment. In this study, we demonstrate the utility of the male ovine mammary gland as a model for furthering our knowledge of postnatal male mammary biology.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An ovine model for investigation of the microenvironment of the male mammary gland

Davies,

Crew,

Cochrane

et al. 2024

Journal of Anatomy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As mammary tumourigenesis is rare in sheep (Hughes, 2021b;Newman et al, 2021), the male ovine gland does not offer a direct model for male breast cancer, but it will facilitate furthering understanding of normal male mammary biology to use in comparative studies. In addition, the relative resistance of the sheep to development of mammary tumours may be a further fruitful avenue of future comparative study (Hughes, 2023). .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An ovine model for investigation of the microenvironment of the male mammary gland

Davies,

Crew,

Cochrane

et al. 2023

Preprint

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The specific biology of the male breast remains relatively unexplored in spite of the increasing global prevalence of male breast cancer. Delineation of the microenvironment of the male breast is restricted by the low availability of human samples and a lack of characterisation of appropriate animal models. Unlike the mouse, the male ovine gland persists postnatally. We suggest that the male ovine mammary gland constitutes a promising adjunctive model for the male human breast. In this study we evaluate the male ovine mammary gland microenvironment, comparing intact and neutered males. Assessment of the glandular histo-anatomy highlights the resemblance of the male gland to that of the neonatal female sheep and confirms the presence of rudimentary terminal duct lobular units. Irrespective of neutered status, cell proliferation in epithelial and stromal compartments is low in males, and cell proliferation in epithelial cells and in the intralobular stroma is significantly lower than in pubertal female sheep. Between 42% and 72% of the luminal mammary epithelial cells in the male gland express the androgen receptor, and expression is significantly reduced by neutering. Luminal epithelial cells within the intact and neutered male gland also express oestrogen receptor alpha, but minimal progesterone receptor expression is observed. The distrubution of mammary leukocytes within the ducts and stroma is similar in the female mammary gland of sheep and other species. Both macrophages and T lymphocytes are intercalated in the epithelial bilayer and are more abundant in the intralobular stroma than the interlobular stroma, suggesting that they may have a protective immunological function within the vestigial glandular tissue of the male sheep. Mast cells are also observed within the stroma. These cells cluster nearer the glandular tissue and are frequently located adjacent to blood vessels. The abundance of mast cells is significantly higher in intact males compared to neutered males, suggesting that hormone signalling may impact mast cell recruitment. In this study, we demonstrate the utility of the male ovine mammary gland as a model for furthering our knowledge of postnatal male mammary biology.

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In the Murine and Bovine Maternal Mammary Gland Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 is Activated in Clusters of Epithelial Cells around the Day of Birth

Hardwick,

Davies,

Pensa

et al. 2024

J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia

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Signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT) proteins regulate mammary development. Here we investigate the expression of phosphorylated STAT3 (pSTAT3) in the mouse and cow around the day of birth. We present localised colocation analysis, applicable to other mammary studies requiring identification of spatially congregated events. We demonstrate that pSTAT3-positive events are multifocally clustered in a non-random and statistically significant fashion. Arginase-1 expressing cells, consistent with macrophages, exhibit distinct clustering within the periparturient mammary gland. These findings represent a new facet of mammary STAT3 biology, and point to the presence of mammary sub-microenvironments.

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Studying Mammary Physiology and Pathology in Domestic Species Benefits Both Humans and Animals

Cited by 4 publications

References 19 publications

An ovine model for investigation of the microenvironment of the male mammary gland

An ovine model for investigation of the microenvironment of the male mammary gland

An ovine model for investigation of the microenvironment of the male mammary gland

In the Murine and Bovine Maternal Mammary Gland Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 is Activated in Clusters of Epithelial Cells around the Day of Birth

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