Mice Get Human Breasts

cavehobbit writes "Nature.com reports: Lab mice have grown tissue more usually confined to a bra - lumps of human breast. The growths should help researchers work out how cancer develops. My only question is: Will Logitech or Microsoft be first to market...."

Comments

And once again...

[Ieshan]

And once again, boobies fuel research.

VCRs, DVDs, high-speed internet... and now boob-laden mice. What'll they think of next?

Re:And once again...

[leviramsey]

From Coupling's season one episode, "Inferno":

I'm a bloke, we're supposed to like naked women, we're born like that! We like naked women as soon as we're pulled out of one; halfway down the birth canal we're already enjoying the view! Look, it is the four pillars of the male heterosexual psyche. We like: Naked Women, Stockings, Lesbians, and Sean Connery best as James Bond, because that's what being a boy is....Look, I want to spend the rest of my life with the woman at the end of that table there, but that does not stop me wanting to see several thousand more naked bottoms before I die, because that's what being a bloke is. When man invented fire, he didn't say "Hey, let's cook!" He said "Great! Now we can see naked bottoms in the dark!" As soon as Caxton had invented the printing press, we using it to make pictures of, hey! Naked bottoms! We have turned the internet into an enormous international database of naked bottoms. So you see, the story of male achievement through the ages, feeble though it may have been, has been a story of our struggle to get a better look at your bottoms.

Poor Minnie!

[El]

Obviously this is Eisner's last, desperate attempt to make Disney more popular...

Microsoft? Logitech?

[daeley]

Apple would make one with only one nipple and the rest of you would be up in arms about it! ;)

White Mice

[OC_Wanderer]

Why do they keep testing with white mice????

It's a proven fact that white mice cause cancer!

Re:White Mice

[Kobal]

I know this is a joke, but it isn't that off target. The point isn't to see whether they'll develop a cancer, but how and how soon.
This mouse/human model will certainly be most helpful in studying hormone-dependent breast cancers, since in-vitro cellular assays have given wildly different results against similar substances. A partially-human-yet-ethically-useable whole body model is certainly welcome in the field.
By the way, depending on the studies and their results, this line of research may deal a vicious blow to the partisans of both the vegan diet and alternative hormone replacement treatments for menopaused women, which rely heavily on soy foods and other beans, containing large amounts of potential endocrine disruptors (estrogen agonists and antagonists mostly: coumestrol, genistein and daidzein to name a few), all potentially linked to breast cancers.
On the other hand, these phytoestrogens may really have a preventive effect as the pharmaceutical industry claims, even if research has been contradictory until now.

Re:White Mice

[john82]

The corollary I was raised on:

The leading cause of cancer in rats is research.

You've left the lens cap on your brain again, haven't you Pinky?

Human Body "Emulation"

[parvenu74]

An interesting concept: since mouse breast cancer is sufficiently different from human breast cancer that the efficacy of the research is limited, make the breasts on the mouse more human so that the resulting cancer is more human... Basically the mouse -- or any other lab animal for that matter -- becomes the host for a human emulation layer for studying disease.

Is it just me, or does this makes make anyone else think of the WINE project: create a more Windows-like "tissue mass" on Linux in order to grow/study the cancer on a different platform...

I can't believe this doesn't already exist

[Strange Ranger]

With a soft breast-shaped mouse, we could teach half the population to be skilled computer users!
Straight males, lesbians, etc.

Just think of all those "Joe Users" just looking for a reason to click on one more thing, to mouse around just a bit more. They'd learn every single menu item in every app on their PC!

"Son, why don't you go play on the internet some more."
"OK Ma, But I've already finished it once."

Heck, I want one myself!

The new office catch-phrase: "Sorry, been mousing around, can't stand up for awhile.

in other news

[Finuvir]

Slashdot has its first ever story with no moderations other than 'funny'.

And here I thought...

[PapaBoojum]

...a titmouse was a bird.

Re:And here I thought...

[dnahelix]

No, THIS is a titmouse!

That's just what it is

[Spamalamadingdong]

Many of the problems with research into AIDS is that no animal reacts to the virus the same way that humans do; there are similar monkey viruses, but they do not cause the same sort (or necessarily any) disease. Ditto with Alzheimer's and a ton of other things out there.

There are already efforts to produce chimeric animals with some human genes so that they will react more like humans to drugs, diseases and even general development. There are also ethicists looking very closely at these efforts - I don't see what's unethical about making a mouse that has a breast made of human tissue, but when you start talking about making brains develop more like humans it starts getting a little iffier.

Not to be outdone...

[Chris Tucker]

...the American Forestry Association announces their research project to grow humn breast tissue on a tree to produce a genuine titwillow.

I sincerely apologise for the above. Really.

Re:I can't begin to count...

[TwistedGreen]

Ah, yes, this is a very insightful post. Especially considering that you didn't say a thing.

Re:Microsoft? Logitech? nah, IBM!

[Liquor]

Also, I used to have a keyboard with one nipple

You meant the Cursor Location Interface Tool?

What're we gonna do tonight Brain?

[Anonymous Coward]

The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Stay in the cage and fondle ourselves.

Re:Tonight, we take over the word ...

[Deanasc]

When was the last time you saw a breast think?

Way off topic but I let my wee-wee do all my thinking.

Re:I'm guessing...

[Tackhead]

> You'll probably have to replace breast implants made of this kind of tissue, too. Your body should absorb it over time, I would think. It would be nice if you could make them permanent though, I'd start a nonprofit to buy women bigger tits.

Brain: And once this Slashdotter has started the nonprofit fundraiser, and our kind has a monopoly on breast production, we shall rule the world! (And it shall be a wonderful world, full of tits.)

Pinky: Well, Brain, if the world needs more tits, I'm glad to do my part! Tits tits tits tits tits tits ! Tiiiiiiiiits tits tits tits tits tits tits tits tits tits tits ...

Brain: You do realize we can grow them ourselves now, don't you? I like tits as much as the next mouse, but if you don't stop that, I shall have to hurt you.

Pinky:...tits tits tits tits tits tits ti-*WHAM*-NARF! Sorry, Brain. Tits on the brain and all.

Brain: Yes, I know. Occupational hazard.

Medical Marvel in Minnie

[MissMarvel]

Breast cancer hits one in eight women at some time in their life. One in eight! That's a frightening prospect, yet this is the risk that faces our mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters.

This new tissue transplant procedure in mouse provides what, up until now, has not been available... living human breast tissue on which to experiment.

Despite massive funding of breast cancer research over the past 20+ years, we still know very little about the cellular mechanism by which breast cancer takes hold. I'd say this new procedure is a move in the right direction and gives the female population new hope.