Immunolocalization of laminin, fibronectin, and collagens I to V in the normal and mastotic breast

Our study tries by immunofluorescence to specify the nature of the connective tissue of the breasts, and especially of the scaffolding of the fatty tissue and the matrix of the lobules and of the lactiferous ducts. In consists of a study of 35 samples which were taken from 13 women whose ages ranged from 40 to 75 and whose breasts were considered on clinical examination and on radiography as normal or abnormal. We have analyzed the distribution of anti-collagen types I, III, IV and V and anti-fibronectin and anti-laminin antibodies in certain sites in the breast which were chosen because of the diversity of forms they could take from one woman to another. In each case of the distribution of protein markers seemed to be regular without, as can be found in certain cases of scar or tumour formation, a change in the distribution of the matrix proteins. Therefore, as already suggested by certain histologists, benign abnormal breast conditions (fibrosis) should be considered as simple variations from the normal. This conclusion agrees with classical histological findings.