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Understanding tissue context influences on intratumour heterogeneity

Although human cancers exhibit intratumour heterogeneity, the influence of the tumour environment on this property is unclear. Single basal-like mammary epithelial cells are now shown to engage a dynamic TGFBR3–JUND signalling circuit in an extracellular-matrix-dependent manner. Cell transition between the distinct gene expression states underlying this circuit alters their properties and may modulate their propensity to malignancy.

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Figure 1: Tissue context and intratumour heterogeneity.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Vanessa Almendro for assistance with the figure.

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Correspondence to Franziska Michor or Valerie M. Weaver.

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Michor, F., Weaver, V. Understanding tissue context influences on intratumour heterogeneity. Nat Cell Biol 16, 301–302 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb2942

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