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Adult Mammary Stem Cells: Identity, Location, and Functional Assays

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Adult Stem Cells

Part of the book series: Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine ((STEMCELL))

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Abstract

The mammary gland is an apocrine organ that undergoes multiple periods of robust change marked with proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. The profound regenerative potential observed in the mammary gland implies the presence of a population of mammary stem cells (MaSCs) with the capacity to both self-renew and give rise to all mammary lineages. Furthermore, a single mammary epithelial cell enriched for specific cell surface markers has been shown to reconstitute an entire, functional mammary gland in vivo, thereby demonstrating multipotent stem cell potential. The purpose of this chapter is to briefly outline the current state of knowledge on the identity and location of the MaSC, as well as provide a critical overview of the assays utilized to examine MaSC potential.

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Abbreviations

FACS:

Fluorescence-activated cell sorting

FCS:

Fetal calf serum

GFP:

Green fluorescent protein

LRC:

Label-retaining cells

MaSC:

Mammary stem cell

MRU:

Mammary repopulating unit

PI-MEC:

Parity-induced mammary epithelial cells

SP:

Side population

TDLU:

Terminal ductal lobular units

TEB:

Terminal end buds

YFP:

Yellow fluorescent protein

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Mr. Hartland Jackson for providing the images of colonies from various colony-forming assays and for sample flow cytometry plots. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Alison Casey, Mr. Hartland Jackson, and Dr. Purna Joshi for their critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by funding to the Khokha lab from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute (CCSRI), and the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF). Pirashaanthy Tharmapalan is supported by a CBCF studentship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Princess Margaret Cancer Center/Ontario Cancer Institute and Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Pirashaanthy Tharmapalan & Rama Khokha

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  1. Pirashaanthy Tharmapalan
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  2. Rama Khokha
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Correspondence to Rama Khokha .

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  1. Regenerative Medicine Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute Sprott Centre for Stem Cell Research, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    Kursad Turksen

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Tharmapalan, P., Khokha, R. (2014). Adult Mammary Stem Cells: Identity, Location, and Functional Assays. In: Turksen, K. (eds) Adult Stem Cells. Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9569-7_9

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