Abstract IA12: Mammary epithelial subtypes and their implications for breast cancer

Abstract

Abstract To understand relationships between breast tissue and ‘cells of origin’ of breast cancer, it is important to dissect the normal mammary epithelial hierarchy. Discrete populations of mouse and human mammary epithelial cells can be isolated on the basis of cell surface markers and subsets that are highly enriched for mammary stem (MaSC), luminal progenitor and mature luminal cells have been identified. These are functionally analogous across species and have highly conserved transcriptomes. Lineage tracing is an important approach for assessing the stem cell hierarchy as it allows stem and progenitor cell fate to be studied in situ in the context of development, tissue maintenance and disease. Indeed, recent studies in the mammary gland have described unipotent stem cells that appear to control the different stages of development. Here we have combined lineage tracing with a novel three-dimensional (3D) imaging strategy to explore the relative contributions of stem and progenitor cells in the post-natal mammary gland. Newly generated transgenic strains harboring lineage-specific gene regulatory regions are also being used to direct the expression of specific mammary oncogenes to discrete epithelial cell types to gain insight into cells of origin of breast cancer. Citation Format: Anne Rios, Naiyang Fu, Bhupinder Pal, Geoffrey Lindeman, Jane Visvader. Mammary epithelial subtypes and their implications for breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Breast Cancer Research: Genetics, Biology, and Clinical Applications; Oct 3-6, 2013; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2013;11(10 Suppl):Abstract nr IA12.