ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the three-dimensional (3D) culture models available to study the dynamics of normal and pathological breast development. Therefore, the 3D culture models that reproduce the human breast tissue architecture aim to provide insights into the role of stromal-epithelial interactions in human mammary gland development and neoplasia. Since the second half of last century, with the advent of the molecular biology revolution, researchers have focused on the study of genes involved in breast cancer, a development that consolidated the hegemony of the somatic mutation theory (SMT). The chapter discusses the use of physiologically relevant culture systems for the study of the breast from a tissue-level perspective. It uses fibroblasts isolated from reduction mammoplasties (RMF) in our 3D co-cultures with human breast epithelial cells. The chapter develops a hormone-sensitive 3D culture model of the breast where hormones influence epithelial morphology similar to what it is observed in vivo by altering the pattern of collagen fiber organization.
