Macrophages are diverse immune cells that reside in all tissues to regulate development, function and homeostasis.  In the mammary gland, a highly dynamic organ that undergoes dramatic remodeling throughout life, macrophages have been implicated in development and breast tumorigenesis. Ductal macrophages, as opposed to their stromal counterparts, were found to promote ductal morphogenesis during puberty and efficiently phagocytose alveolar cells post-lactation. Within mammary tumors, only ductal macrophages expanded to form a network throughout the tumor, where they also contact intra-tumoral T cells. Furthermore, ductal macrophages accelerated the growth of tumor organoids. Thus, pro-remodeling mammary ductal macrophages represent the normal tissue counterpart of tumor macrophages in an organ that is highly susceptible to oncogenesis. To gain insight into ductal macrophage function, we sorted all antigen presenting cell populations from mouse mammary glands and undertook RNA-seq expression profiling. SOURCE: Gordon,K,Smyth (smyth@wehi.edu.au) - Smyth Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

Pluto Bioinformatics

GSE119869: RNA-seq expression profiling of ductal macrophages and antigen presenting cells from virgin mouse mammary glands