Faculty, Staff and Student Publications
Publication Date
8-1-2023
Journal
Nature
Abstract
The adult human breast is comprised of an intricate network of epithelial ducts and lobules that are embedded in connective and adipose tissue1-3. Although most previous studies have focused on the breast epithelial system4-6, many of the non-epithelial cell types remain understudied. Here we constructed the comprehensive Human Breast Cell Atlas (HBCA) at single-cell and spatial resolution. Our single-cell transcriptomics study profiled 714,331 cells from 126 women, and 117,346 nuclei from 20 women, identifying 12 major cell types and 58 biological cell states. These data reveal abundant perivascular, endothelial and immune cell populations, and highly diverse luminal epithelial cell states. Spatial mapping using four different technologies revealed an unexpectedly rich ecosystem of tissue-resident immune cells, as well as distinct molecular differences between ductal and lobular regions. Collectively, these data provide a reference of the adult normal breast tissue for studying mammary biology and diseases such as breast cancer.
Keywords
Adult, Female, Humans, Breast, Breast Neoplasms, Endothelial Cells, Epithelial Cells, Gene Expression Profiling, Genomics, Single-Cell Analysis, Immunity
Included in
Bioinformatics Commons, Biomedical Informatics Commons, Medical Sciences Commons, Oncology Commons
Comments
Supplementary Materials
Data Availability Statement
PMID: 37380767