Cell Reports (Apr 2021)

Single-cell transcriptomics reveals involution mimicry during the specification of the basal breast cancer subtype

  • Fátima Valdés-Mora,
  • Robert Salomon,
  • Brian Stewart Gloss,
  • Andrew Man Kit Law,
  • Jeron Venhuizen,
  • Lesley Castillo,
  • Kendelle Joan Murphy,
  • Astrid Magenau,
  • Michael Papanicolaou,
  • Laura Rodriguez de la Fuente,
  • Daniel Lee Roden,
  • Yolanda Colino-Sanguino,
  • Zoya Kikhtyak,
  • Nona Farbehi,
  • James Ronald William Conway,
  • Neblina Sikta,
  • Samantha Richelle Oakes,
  • Thomas Robert Cox,
  • Seán Ignatius O’Donoghue,
  • Paul Timpson,
  • Christopher John Ormandy,
  • David Gallego-Ortega

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 35, no. 2
p. 108945

Abstract

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Summary: Basal breast cancer is associated with younger age, early relapse, and a high mortality rate. Here, we use unbiased droplet-based single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to elucidate the cellular basis of tumor progression during the specification of the basal breast cancer subtype from the luminal progenitor population in the MMTV-PyMT (mouse mammary tumor virus-polyoma middle tumor-antigen) mammary tumor model. We find that basal-like cancer cells resemble the alveolar lineage that is specified upon pregnancy and encompass the acquisition of an aberrant post-lactation developmental program of involution that triggers remodeling of the tumor microenvironment and metastatic dissemination. This involution mimicry is characterized by a highly interactive multicellular network, with involution cancer-associated fibroblasts playing a pivotal role in extracellular matrix remodeling and immunosuppression. Our results may partially explain the increased risk and poor prognosis of breast cancer associated with childbirth.

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