Breast cells in breastmilk are alive and may offer insights into breast cancer
The protective effect of breastfeeding against breast cancer has been known for some time. However, the mechanisms underlying this have remained unclear.
While mouse studies suggest this could be due to changes in the breast tissue that occur during and breastfeeding causing long lasting epigenetic changes, it has been difficult to investigate. This is because most breast tissue donors are people undergoing surgery and very few of these individuals would have been lactating.
