Nature aging

Detailed single-cell map of healthy breast tissue aging shows common gene and DNA changes in aging and cancer

Longevity & Aging Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗OA ↗

Updated

Abstract

Aged epithelial cells exhibit epigenetic and transcriptional changes in metabolic, pro-inflammatory, and cancer-associated genes.

  • Aging alters the gene expression patterns in mouse mammary glands at a single-cell level.
  • Stromal cells in aged mice show decreased expression of fibroblast markers and increased markers of senescence and cancer-associated fibroblasts.
  • Certain T cell subsets and M2-like macrophages expand in number with age.
  • Spatial indicates that aged immune and epithelial cells are found in close proximity in tissue.
  • Transcriptional signatures linked to aging in mammary cells are also present in human breast tumors.

Simplified

Key numbers

6×
Increase in Fibroblast Population
Fibroblast population increased approximately six-fold with age.
4×
Expansion of M2-like Macrophages
M2-like macrophages expanded approximately four-fold with age.
2.5×
Increase in Memory T Cells
Memory T cells increased approximately 2.5-fold with age.

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Funding

Competing interests

Competing interests: O.A. is a member of the advisory board of Caerelus Genomics. All other authors declare no competing interests. Inclusion and ethics: Inclusion and ethics We support inclusive, diverse and equitable conduct of research.
PubMed

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