title: The dynamics of murine mammary stem/progenitor cells.
abstract: The stem/progenitor cells in the murine mammary gland are a highly dynamic population of cells that are responsible for ductal elongation in puberty, homeostasis maintenance in adult, and lobulo-alveolar genesis during pregnancy. In recent years understanding the epithelial cell hierarchy within the mammary gland is becoming particularly important as these different stem/progenitor cells were perceived to be the cells of origin for various subtypes of breast cancer. Although significant advances have been made in enrichment and isolation of stem/progenitor cells by combinations of antibodies against cell surface proteins together with flow cytometry, and in identification of stem/progenitor cells with multi-lineage differentiation and self-renewal using mammary fat pad reconstitution assay andin vivogenetic labeling technique, a clear understanding of how these different stem/progenitors are orchestrated in the mammary gland is still lacking. Here we discuss the differentin vivoandin vitromethods currently available for stem/progenitor identification, their associated caveats, and a possible new hierarchy model to reconcile various putative stem/progenitor cell populations identified by different research groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular & Structural Biology, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX 78299, USA ; Institute of Environmental Safety and Human Health, Wenzhou Medical University, University Town, Wenzhou 325035, China.
authors.forename: Qiaoxiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular & Structural Biology, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX 78299, USA ; Cancer Therapy and Research Center, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX 78299, USA.
authors.forename: Lu-Zhe
authors.initials: LZ
authors.lastname: Sun
keywords: cell hierarchy; mammary stem cell