Abstract 4652: A cellular and transcriptomic dissection of the human breast for studying mechanisms of cell and tissue function

Abstract

A fundamental question in biology, central to our understanding of cancer and other pathologies, is determining how different cell types coordinate to form and maintain tissues. Recognizing the distinct features and capabilities of the cells that compose these tissues is critical. Unfortunately, the complexity of tissues often hinders our ability to distinguish between neighboring cell types and, in turn, scrutinize their transcriptomes and generate reliable and tractable cell models for studying their inherently different biologies. A lack of comprehensive methods to identify, isolate, and culture each cell type from many tissues have impeded progress. Here, we will describe such a method for the breadth of cell types composing the human breast. Furthermore, we have sequenced mRNAs from each purified population and investigated transcriptional patterns that reveal their distinguishing features. These analyses have exposed differentially expressed genes and enriched biological pathways that capture the essence of each cell type, along with transcripts that display intriguing expression patterns. These data, analytic tools, and transcriptional analyses form a rich resource whose exploration provides remarkable insights into the inner workings of the cell types composing the breast, thus furthering our understanding of the rules governing normal cell and tissue function. Citation Format: Katelyn Del Toro, Rosalyn W. Sayaman, Kate Thi, Yamhilette Licon-Munoz, William C. Hines. A cellular and transcriptomic dissection of the human breast for studying mechanisms of cell and tissue function. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 4652.