ABSTRACT
Although proteins of the human milk fat globule constitute only a few percent of the total milk proteins, they are of interest from many standpoints including their roles in mechanisms of milk secretion, structure, and functions in membranes of the lactating cell, enzymatic activities, and well being of the human infant. More recently these proteins have attracted much interest in the field of breast cancer. Cells of certain human mammary tumors produce some of the same proteins that occur in the human milk fat globule. Since these proteins do not occur in normal undifferentiated mammary tissue, they can be employed to raise antibodies useful for detecting breast cancer and presumably in developing (targeting) treatment for such cancers. We draw attention to a sample of the rapidly expanding literature in this field 1–5 and note subsequently some of the specific antigens being used in these applications.
