Mammary cell gene expression atlas links epithelial cell remodeling events to breast carcinogenesis

Abstract

The female mammary epithelium undergoes reorganization during development, pregnancy, and menopause, linking higher risk with breast cancer development. To characterize these periods of complex remodeling, here we report integrated 50 K mouse and 24 K human mammary epithelial cell atlases obtained by single-cell RNA sequencing, which covers most lifetime stages. Our results indicate a putative trajectory that originates from embryonic mammary stem cells which differentiates into three epithelial lineages (basal, luminal hormone-sensing, and luminal alveolar), presumably arising from unipotent progenitors in postnatal glands. The lineage-specific genes infer cells of origin of breast cancer using The Cancer Genome Atlas data and single-cell RNA sequencing of human breast cancer, as well as the association of gland reorganization to different breast cancer subtypes. This comprehensive mammary cell gene expression atlas (https://mouse-mammary-epithelium-integrated.cells.ucsc.edu) presents insights into the impact of the internal and external stimuli on the mammary epithelium at an advanced resolution.

Kohei Saeki et al. present a mammary cell atlas derived from mouse and human single-cell RNA-sequence data. They characterize key life stages in which the mammary gland undergoes complex remodeling and, using breast cancer expression data, infer cells of origin for carcinogenesis of various breast cancer subtypes.