Project description:The mammary epithelia are mainly composed of two distinct lineages, the basal and luminal cells. In our MMTV-Cre; Brca1flox/flox mouse model, we found the Brca1 knockout mainly occurred in the luminal cells, which will lead the mammary tumorigenesis. To investigate the Brca1 deficiency mediated mammary tumorigenesis, we sorted the luminal cells from wild type mice and MMTV-Cre; Brca1flox/flox mice for RNAseq analysis.
Project description:Mammary stem and progenitor cells are essential for mammary gland homeostasis and are also candidates for cells of origin of mammary tumors. Here, we provide evidence that the protein kinase p38a is required for the differentiation of luminal progenitor cells through modulation of the transcription factors Runx1 and Foxa1. Moreover, using a mouse model for breast cancer initiated by luminal cells, we show that p38a downregulation in mammary epithelial cells reduces tumorigenesis, which correlates with reduced numbers of tumor-initiating cells. Our results identify p38a as a key regulator of luminal progenitor cell fate that facilitates mammary tumor formation.
Project description:The aim of this project is to examine age-dependent changes in the proteomes and phosphoproteomes of normal human mammary luminal epithelial and myoepithelial cells.
Project description:We have identified GATA-3 as a critical regulator of luminal cell differentiation in the mammary gland. Acute loss of GATA-3 in the adult mammary gland leads to an expansion of an undifferentiated luminal epithelium and the formation of a multi-layered epithelium. Here we report microarray analysis of mammary glands that have undergone acute loss of GATA-3 Keywords: genetic modification
Project description:We used a mouse strain in which one Tbx3 gene was replaced with the yellow fluorescent protein variant Venus. Luminal cells had either very high Tbx3 promoter activity or not at all. We performed an expression analysis on luminal mammary epithelial cells sorted based on their Venus expression (reporting Tbx3 promoter activity) to investigate the difference between these two cell populations. Mammary epithelial cells from 3 Tbx3-Venus-KI adult virgin female mice (FVB background) were pooled and luminal cells were sorted into a Venus-hi and a Venus-neg sample. There were no repeats for this study.
Project description:During gestation, alveolar cells are derived from luminal progenitors in the mammary gland. However, the mechanism underlying luminal progenitor commitment to alveolar cells remains largely unknown. By using five genetically modified mouse lines and single cell RNA sequencing, we identified a Kindlin-2 - Stat3 - Dll1 signaling cascade in myoepithelial cells which controls the inactivation of Notch signaling in luminal cells that consequently drives luminal progenitor commitment to alveolar cells. We found that loss of Kindlin-2 in myoepithelial cells impairs mammary morphogenesis and alveologenesis, and lactation. Single-cell profiling reveals that Kindlin-2 loss significantly decreases the proportion of alveolar cells.