Mina Bissell

Research Interests

Mina Bissell pioneered the area of the relationship between cancer genetics and 3D tissue structure. She discovered the first ECM-response element and elucidated the mechanism by which MMPs could cause genomic instability and cancer in mammary cells. She was the major force in establishing the field of microenvironmental regulation of tissue-specificity.

Research Summary

Mina Bissell pioneered the area of the relationship between cancer genetics and 3D tissue structure. She discovered the first ECM-response element and elucidated the mechanism by which MMPs could cause genomic instability and cancer in mammary cells. She was the major force in establishing the field of microenvironmental regulation of tissue-specificity.

Selected Publications

* denotes papers cited by Nature, Nature Medicine and Nature Reviews (Cancer) in 2006 as Milestones in Cancer, and in bringing the filed of Microenvironment into focus:

Bissell MJ, Rambeck WA, White RC and Bassham JA. (1976)  Glycerol phosphate shuttle in virus-transformed cells in culture. Science  191:856-858. 

Teng M-H, Bartholomew J and Bissell MJ. (1977)  Synergism between anti-microtubule agents and growth stimulants in enhancement of cell cycle traverse. Nature  268:739-741.

*Bissell MJ, Hall HG and Parry G. (1982)  How does extracellular matrix direct gene expression? J Theor Biol  99:31-68.

*Dolberg DS and Bissell MJ. (1984)  Inability of Rous sarcoma virus to cause sarcomas in the avian embryo. Nature  309:552-556.

*Dolberg DS, Hollingsworth R, Hertle M and Bissell MJ. (1985)  Wounding and its role in RSV-induced tumor formation. Science  230:676-678.

Barcellos-Hoff MH, Aggeler J, Ram TG and Bissell MJ. (1989)  Functional differentiation and alveolar morphogenesis of primary mammary cultures on reconstituted basement membrane.  Development  105:223-235.

*Sieweke MH, Thompson NL, Sporn MB and Bissell MJ. (1990)  Mediation of wound-related Rous sarcoma virus tumorigenesis by TGF-ß. Science  248:1656-1660.

Streuli CH, Bailey N and Bissell MJ. (1991)  Control of mammary epithelial differentiation:  Basement membrane induces tissue-specific gene expression in the absence of cell-cell interaction and morphological polarity. J Cell Biol.  115:1383-95. [Selected as one of the Landmark Papers in Cell Biology (Joseph G. Gall and J. Richard McIntosh, eds.). pp. 336-348 (2001) Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, and the American Society for Cell Biology, Bethesda, MD.]

Boudreau N, Sympson CJ, Werb Z and Bissell MJ. (1995)  Suppression of ICE and apoptosis in mammary epithelial cells by extracellular matrix. Science  267:891-893.

Rønnov-Jessen L, Petersen OW, Kotelianski V and Bissell MJ. (1995)  The origin of the myofibroblasts in breast cancer:  Recapitulation of tumor environment in culture unravels diversity and implicates coverted fibroblasts and recruited smooth muscle cells. J Clinical Investigation 95:859-873.

Lochter A, Galosy S, Muschler J, Freedman N, Werb Z and Bissell MJ. (1997)  Matrix metalloproteinase stromelysin-1 triggers a cascade of molecular alterations that leads to stable epithelial-to-mesenchymal conversion and a premalignant phenotype in mammary epithelial cells. J Cell Biol  139:1861-1872.

Weaver VM, Petersen OW, Wang F, Larabell CA, Briand P, Damsky C and Bissell MJ. (1997)  Reversion of the malignant phenotype of human breast cells in three-dimensional culture and in vivo using integrin blocking antibodies. J Cell Biol  137:231-246 (cover feature).

Myers CA, Schmidhauser C, Mellentin-Michelotti J, Fragoso G, Roskelley CD, Casperson G, Mossi R, Pujuguet P, Hager G and Bissell MJ. (1998)  Characterization of BCE-1: A transcriptional enhancer regulated by prolactin and extracellular matrix and modulated by the state of histone acetylation. Mol Cell Biol  18(4):2184-2195.

Lelièvre SA, Weaver VM, Nickerson JA, Larabell CA, Bhaumik A, Petersen OW and Bissell MJ. (1998)  Tissue phenotype depends on reciprocal interactions between the extracellular matrix and the structural organization of the nucleus. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA  95:14711-14716.

Sternlicht MD, Lochter A, Sympson CJ, Huey B, Rougier J-P, Gray J, Pinkel D, Bissell MJ and Werb Z. (1999)  The stromal proteinase MMP-3/stromelysin-1 promotes mammary carcinogenesis. Cell  98(2):137-46.

Weaver VM, Lelièvre SA, Lakins JN, Chrenek MA, Jones JCR, Giancotti F, Werb Z and Bissell MJ. (2002) b4 Integrin-dependent formation of polarized three-dimensional architecture confers resistance to apoptosis in normal and malignant mammary epithelium. Cancer Cell 2:205-216. Also see Nature (News & Views) 419:790-791 and MiniReview (Cell) 111:923-925 (2002).

Wang F, Hansen RK, Radisky D, Yoneda T, Barcellos-Hoff MH, Petersen OW, Turley EA and Bissell MJ. (2002) Phenotypic Reversion or Death of Cancer Cells by Altering Signaling Pathways in Three-Dimensional Contexts. J Nat'l Cancer Inst 94(19):1494-1503.

Liu H, Radisky DC, Wang F and Bissell MJ. (2004) Polarity and proliferation are controlled by distinct signaling pathways downstream of PI3-kinase in breast epithelial tumor cells. J Cell Biol 164(4):603-12.

Radisky DC, Levy DD, Littlepage LE, Liu H, Nelson CM, Fata JE, Leake D, Godden EL, Albertson DG, Nieto MA, Werb Z and Bissell MJ (2005). Rac1b and reactive oxygen species mediate MMP-3-induced EMT and genomic instability.  Nature 436(7047):123-7.

Nelson, CM, van Duijn M, Inman JL, Fletcher DA and Bissell MJ(2006.) Tissue Geometry Determines Sites of Branching Morphogenesis in Organotypic Cultures. Science (IN PRESS)