Cover Caption

Abstract

Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is an early stage breast tumor that originates in the mammary ducts and in most cases, does not progress to form a metastatic tumor. There are, however, instances when DCIS does become metastatic. As mammography has increased the diagnosis of DCIS, it is important to understand which lesions will progress to an aggressive tumor and how this occurs. Of the multiple histological subtypes, only the comedo form seems to have a high propensity towards malignancy. In an effort to shed light on this process, Shekhar and colleagues have used an in vitro model of comedo-DCIS to investigate apoptosis in these tumors and compared their results to patient samples.  On the cover of this month’s issue of Cancer Biology & Therapy, apoptotic cells are shown in green and/or yellow in the center of a comedo-DCIS breast cancer. Apoptotic cells (green) are also seen in the myoepithelial layer. Cell nuclei are shown in red (propidium iodide). To learn more about the role of apoptosis in comedo-DCIS, see the manuscript by Shekhar and colleagues.