Aging is associated with an expansion of CD49f^hi mammary stem cells that show a decline in function and increased transformation potential.

ABSTRACT: Breast cancer incidence increases during aging, yet the mechanism of age-associated mammary tumorigenesis is unclear. Mammary stem cells are believed to play an important role in breast tumorigenesis, but how their function changes with age is unknown. We compared mammary epithelial cells isolated from young and old mammary glands of different cohorts of C57BL6/J and BALB/c mice, and our findings revealed that old mammary glands were characterized by increased basal cell pool comprised of mostly CD49f^hi cells, altered luminal-to-basal cell ratio, and irregular ductal morphology. More interestingly, basal stem cells in old mice were increased in frequency, but showed a functional decline of differentiation and increased neoplastic transformation potential. Gene signature enrichme

SUBMITTER: Dong Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5191868 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature