Project description:The mammary gland is a highly dynamic organ that mainly develops during puberty. Based on morphology and proliferation analysis, mammary stem cells (MaSCs) are thought to be close to or reside in the terminal end buds (TEBs) during pubertal development. However, exclusive stem cell markers are lacking, and therefore the true identity of MaSCs, including their location, multiplicity, dynamics and fate during branching morphogenesis, has yet to be defined. To gain more insights into the molecular identity and heterogeneity of the MaSC pool, we performed single cell transcriptome sequencing of mammary epithelial cells micro-dissected from ducts and TEBs during puberty. These data show that the behaviour of MaSCs cannot be directly linked to a single expression profile. Instead, morphogenesis of the mammary epithelium relies upon a heterogeneous population of MaSCs that functions long-term as a single equipotent pool of stem cells.
Project description:RON WT and RON KO at 5, 6, 7 week virgin mammary glands In the study, we demonstrated that RON regulates mammary gland branching morphogenesis in pubertal development associated with changes in gene expression. Keywords: Pubertal mammary glands
Project description:A transcriptome study in mouse hematopoietic stem cells was performed using a sensitive SAGE method, in an attempt to detect medium and low abundant transcripts expressed in these cells. Among a total of 31,380 unique transcript, 17,326 (55%) known genes were detected, 14,054 (45%) low-copy transcripts that have no matches to currently known genes. 3,899 (23%) were alternatively spliced transcripts of the known genes and 3,754 (22%) represent anti-sense transcripts from known genes.
Project description:RON WT and RON KO at 5, 6, 7 week virgin mammary glands In the study, we demonstrated that RON regulates mammary gland branching morphogenesis in pubertal development associated with changes in gene expression. Keywords: Pubertal mammary glands In the study, we hybridized RNA from 5, 6, 7 week old virgin female RON WT and KO mammary glands to Affymetrix GeneChip Mouse Genome 430 2.0 Array
Project description:MicroRNAs are widely expressed in the normal pubertal mammary gland and orchestrate mammary gland development by regulating cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and metabolism. Although human Growth hormone(hGH) plays fundamental roles in normal mammary gland development and elevated autocrine hGH levels have been documented to contribute to breast cancer, whether hGH should influence the expression pattern and the functional roles of miRNAs in this context remain unknown.This study explores the effects of autocrine hGH on microRNA expression in MCF7 cell.
Project description:Perinatal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) has been shown to cause aberrant mammary gland morphogenesis and mammary neoplastic transformation. Yet, the underlying mechanism is poorly understood. We tested the hypothesis that mammary glands exposed to BPA during a susceptible window may lead to its susceptibility to tumorigenesis through a stem-cell mediated mechanism. We exposed 21-day-old Balb/c mice to BPA by gavage (25 µg/kg/day) during puberty for 3 weeks, and a subset of animals were further challenged with one oral dose (30 mg/kg) of 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) at 2 months of age. Primary mammary cells were isolated at 6 weeks, and 2 and 4 months of age for mammary stem cell (MaSC) quantification and function analysis. Pubertal exposure to the low-dose BPA increased lateral branches and hyperplasia in adult mammary glands and caused an acute increase of MaSC in 6-week-old glands and a delayed increase of luminal progenitors in 4-month-old adult gland. Most importantly, pubertal BPA exposure altered the function of MaSC from different age groups, causing pre-neoplastic lesions in their regenerated glands similar to those induced by DMBA exposure, which indicates that MaSCs are susceptible to BPA-induced transformation. Deep sequencing analysis on MaSC-enriched mammospheres identified a set of aberrantly expressed genes associated with pre-neoplastic lesions in human breast cancer patients. Thus, our study for the first time shows that pubertal BPA exposure altered MaSC gene expression and function such that they induced early neoplastic transformation.