Comprehensive single-cell aging atlas of healthy mammary tissues reveals shared epigenomic and transcriptomic signatures of aging and cancer.

ABSTRACT: Aging is the greatest risk factor for breast cancer; however, how age-related cellular and molecular events impact cancer initiation is unknown. In this study, we investigated how aging rewires transcriptomic and epigenomic programs of mouse mammary glands at single-cell resolution, yielding a comprehensive resource for aging and cancer biology. Aged epithelial cells exhibit epigenetic and transcriptional changes in metabolic, pro-inflammatory and cancer-associated genes. Aged stromal cells downregulate fibroblast marker genes and upregulate markers of senescence and cancer-associated fibroblasts. Among immune cells, distinct T cell subsets (Gzmk⁺, memory CD4⁺, γδ) and M2-like macrophages expand with age. Spatial transcriptomics reveals co-localization of aged immune

SUBMITTER: Angarola BL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11754115 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature