Charting cellular changes in the human breast associated with embryogenesis, parity, age, menopause and germline mutations

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Each organ in our body is composed of millions of cells. However, not all the cells within an organ are the same, they all have a defined role and fate which cumulatively dictates the function of the organ. The mammary gland is one of the defining organs that distinguishes mammals from other organisms. The primary role of the mammary gland is to produce and secrete milk to nurture new-born mammals. Just like any other organ, the mammary gland is composed of multiple cell types each with a defined role and fate. Understanding how these different cell types relate to each other and contribute to development of disease is required. It is only within the last 5 years has it become technically feasible to identify which genes are active within a single cell. We have recently used this novel technology to profile 23,000 individual mouse mammary cells and determine their identity and chart their fate. We found that we can divide the 23,000 cells in to 15 different groups based on their identity. Based on this successful study we propose here to use the same technology to study human breast cells. We aim to analyse cells isolated from different women with a view of capturing changes in the breast tissue mediated by age, lactation, menopause and genetic mutations such as Brca1/2. This is will be useful information as it is known that the risk of developing breast cancer is increased with age and reduced with pregnancy. Therefore, data from our study will shed light on the cellular changes associated with these different breast cancer risk modulators