Glucose is an essential substrate for lactose synthesis and an important energy source in milk production. Glucose uptake in the mammary gland therefore plays a critical role in milk synthesis. Facilitative glucose transporters (GLUTs) mediate glucose uptake in the mammary gland. GLUT1 is the major facilitative glucose transporter expressed in bovine mammary gland and has been shown to localize to the basolateral membrane of mammary epithelial cells. GLUT1 is therefore thought to play a major role in glucose uptake during lactation. The objective of this study was to determine the transport kinetic properties and substrate specificity of bovine GLUT1 using the Xenopus oocyte model. Bovine GLUT1 was expressed in Xenopus oocytes by microinjection of in vitro transcribed cRNA and was found to be localized to the plasma membrane, which resulted in increased glucose uptake. This bGLUT1-mediated glucose uptake was dramatically inhibited by specific facilitative glucose transport inhibitors, cytochalasin B and phloretin. Kinetic analysis of bovine and human GLUT1 was conducted under zero-trans conditions using radio-labeled 2-deoxy-D-glucose and the principles of Michaelis-Menten kinetics. Bovine GLUT1 exhibited a KM of 9.8 ± 3.0 mM for 2-deoxy-D-glucose, similar to 11.7 ± 3.7 mM for human GLUT1. Transport by bovine GLUT1 was inhibited by mannose and galactose, but not fructose, indicating that bovine GLUT1 may also be able to transport mannose and galactose. Our data provides functional insight into the transport properties of bovine GLUT1 in taking up glucose across mammary epithelial cells for milk synthesis.

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A full-term pregnancy early in life reduces lifetime risk of developing breast cancer, and the effect can be mimicked in rodents by full-term pregnancy or shortterm treatment with exogenous estrogen and progesterone. To gain insight into the protective mechanism, 15 3-mo-old postpubertal virgin Lewis rats were randomly assigned to three groups: control (C), pregnancy (P), or hormone (H). The P group animals underwent a full-term pregnancy, and H group animals were implanted subcutaneously with silastic capsules filled with ethynyl estradiol and megesterol acetate for 21 days. C and P animals were implanted with sham capsules. On day 21 capsules were removed, which was followed by a 49-day involution period, euthanasia, and mammary tissue collection. Global gene expression was measured using Rat Genome 230.2 Arrays. Histological analysis revealed that P and H treatments induced sustained morphological changes in the mammary gland with significantly increased percentages of mammary parenchyma and stromal tissues and higher ratio of stroma to parenchyma. Transcriptome analysis showed that P and H treatments induced sustained global changes in gene expression in the mammary gland. Analysis of commonly up-and downregulated genes in P and H relative to C treatment showed increased expression of three matrix metallopeptidases (Mmp3, 8, and 12), more differentiated mammary phenotype, enhanced innate and adaptive immunity, and reduced cell proliferation and angiogenic signatures. The sustained morphological and global gene expression changes in mammary tissue after pregnancy and hormone treatment may function together to provide the protective effect against breast cancer. breast cancer protection; hormone; pregnancy BREAST CANCER IS ONE OF THE most common cancers in women and affects nearly 10% of all women in US. In the year 2009, 192,370 new cases of invasive and 62,280 new cases of in situ breast cancer were estimated to have occurred, with 40,170 estimated deaths (3). Various epidemiological studies have revealed that multiple factors including hormones, genetics, reproductive history, radiation, socio-economic status, place of residence, ethnicity, and the environment affect the incidence of breast cancer (9,19,28,29,50,51,60). It has been shown that full-term pregnancy early in life has a protective effect on women against the risk of breast cancer irrespective of genetic background, age, race, or ethnic background (2,37,39,40,64,65,72). For instance, Lambe et al. (1996) (39, 40) and Albrektsen et al. (2005) (2) reported that full-term gestation in a woman younger than 24 yr of age reduces her lifetime risk of developing breast cancer, and this parity-induced protection against breast cancer is significantly affected by the total number of pregnancies. The epidemiological data on breastfeeding and breast cancer risk in humans also show that prolonged breast-feeding confers additional protection against breast cancer (17). However, aborted pregnancies are not associated with decreased risk for breast cancer (8).A ...

Oct3/4, a transcription factor specifically expressed in mammalian totipotent embryonic stem and germ cells, has a critical role in the regulation and maintenance of pluripotency and self-renewal. However, reactivation of Oct3/4 expression is observed in several human breast cancer cell lines, but not in non‑malignant cells. To examine Oct3/4 expression in human primary breast carcinomas and normal breast tissues, we obtained breast tumor tissues from 28 patients and normal breast tissues from 9 women. According to quantitative polymerase chain reaction, all of the tumor tissues, irrespective of tumor type or clinicopathological status, expressed Oct3/4 mRNA at 10- to 100- fold higher levels than that in the normal breast tissues. Expression of the Oct3/4 protein in tumors was confirmed by western blot analysis and immunofluorescent staining. Additionally, rapid amplification of cDNA ends and DNA sequencing revealed expression of multiple Oct4 gene transcripts from chromosome 6 (POU5F1) in normal breast tissues and the non‑malignant breast epithelial cell line MCF‑10A; by contrast, the breast tumors and malignant breast cancer cell line MCF‑7 predominantly expressed transcripts of an Oct4-like gene (POU5F1B) from chromosome 8, which was termed Oct3 in the current study. The deduced amino acid sequences of full-length Oct3 and Oct4 are 96% identical. The findings of the current study indicated that Oct3, rather than Oct4, may serve as a novel clinical marker and a potential target for gene-specific therapy of breast cancer.

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