The mammary gland epithelium is composed of basal cells (BC) and luminal cells (LC). Lineage tracing demonstrates that many glandular epithelia initially develop from multipotent basal stem cells (BaSCs) that are replaced in adult life by distinct pool of unipotent stem cells. However, adult unipotent BaSC can reactivate multipotency and give rise to LCs upon transplantation or oncogene expression, demonstrating the important plasticity of BaSCs in regenerative and pathological conditions, and suggesting that an active mechanism restricts multipotency in BaSCs during physiological conditions. Here, we assess whether basal and luminal cell-cell communication restricts multipotency in glandular epithelia. SOURCE: Cedric Blanpain (Cedric.Blanpain@ulb.ac.be) - Laboratory of stem cells and cancer Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)

Pluto Bioinformatics

GSE148791: Single Cell RNA-sequencing of mammary gland epithelial cells