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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: Cancer Metastasis Rev. 2017 Sep;36(3):547–555. doi: 10.1007/s10555-017-9684-y

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Model for origination of breast cancer heterogeneity. In route (1), CSC/TICs/progenitors differentiate into breast cancer histotypes of a specific lineage (e.g., hyperplasia, a specific DCIS subtype, etc.), signifying limited or restricted differentiation potential, whereas in route (2), multiple histotypes are generated from CSCs/TICs/progenitors suggesting multipotency. The unipotent and multipotent CSCs/progenitors may represent distinct subsets; alternatively, the CSCs/TICs may produce precursor cells that possess the ability to give rise to one or more histotypes (a, b, c). The histotype composition of a breast tumor or “heterogeneity” would depend upon the renewal and differentiation rates and routes taken by the CSCs/TICs/progenitors, and alterations impacted by clonal evolution and expansions of the differentiated derivatives.