Nature Communications (Mar 2020)

The secreted protease Adamts18 links hormone action to activation of the mammary stem cell niche

  • Dalya Ataca,
  • Patrick Aouad,
  • Céline Constantin,
  • Csaba Laszlo,
  • Manfred Beleut,
  • Marie Shamseddin,
  • Renuga Devi Rajaram,
  • Rachel Jeitziner,
  • Timothy J. Mead,
  • Marian Caikovski,
  • Philipp Bucher,
  • Giovanna Ambrosini,
  • Suneel S. Apte,
  • Cathrin Brisken

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15357-y
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 16

Abstract

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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.