Nature Communications (Mar 2020)
The secreted protease Adamts18 links hormone action to activation of the mammary stem cell niche
Abstract
How hormonal signaling in the mammary epithelium controls the surrounding extracellular matrix is unclear. Here, the authors show that a secreted protease, Adamts18, induced by upstream estrogen-progesterone activated Wnt4 in myoepithelial cells, remodels the basement membrane and contributes to mammary epithelial stemness.