Analysis of clonal expansions through the normal and premalignant human breast epithelium reveals the presence of luminal stem cells.

ABSTRACT: It is widely accepted that the cell of origin of breast cancer is the adult mammary epithelial stem cell; however, demonstrating the presence and location of tissue stem cells in the human breast has proved difficult. Furthermore, we do not know the clonal architecture of the normal and premalignant mammary epithelium or its cellular hierarchy. Here, we use deficiency in the mitochondrial enzyme cytochrome c oxidase (CCO), typically caused by somatic mutations in the mitochondrial genome, as a means to perform lineage tracing in the human mammary epithelium. PCR sequencing of laser-capture microdissected cells in combination with immunohistochemistry for markers of lineage differentiation was performed to determine the clonal nature of the mammary epithelium. We have shown that in the norm

SUBMITTER: Cereser B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5765426 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature