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A spatially resolved single-cell genomic atlas of the adult human breast

Tapsi Kumar, Kevin Nee, Runmin Wei, Siyuan He, Quy H. Nguyen, Shanshan Bai, Kerrigan Blake, Maren Pein, Yanwen Gong, Emi Sei, Min Hu, Anna K. Casasent, Aatish Thennavan, Jianzhuo Li, Tuan Tran, Ken Chen, Benedikt Nilges, Nachiket Kashikar, Oliver Braubach, Bassem Ben Cheikh, Nadya Nikulina, Hui Chen, Mediget Teshome, Brian Menegaz, Huma Javaid, Chandandeep Nagi, Jessica Montalvan, Tatyana Lev, Sharmila Mallya, Delia F. Tifrea, Robert Edwards, Erin Lin, Ritesh Parajuli, Summer Hanson, Sebastian Winocour, Alastair Thompson, Bora Lim, Devon A. Lawson, Kai Kessenbrock & Nicholas Navin
Nature 2023

Abstract

The adult human breast is comprised of an intricate network of epithelial ducts and lobules that are embedded in connective and adipose tissue1,2,3. Although most previous studies have focused on the breast epithelial system4,5,6, 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.

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