Bioinformatics Seminar
Time: 11AM
Venue: Davis Auditorium and Teams
18 October 2022
Exploring breast cancer genesis with single cell RNA-seq data
Jinming ChengWEHI Bioinformatics
Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer death in women worldwide. Almost all breast cancers arise from the terminal duct lobular units (TDLUs) of mammary gland duct system. The most common breast cancer subtype is ductal cancer (70~75%) which arises from the terminal ducts of TDLU, and the second most common breast cancer subtype is lobular cancer (10~14%) which begins in the lobule of TDLU. However, the mechanism of breast cancer genesis is still not very clear. Single cell RNA-seq technology has enabled us to explore cell heterogeneity of tissues. Hence, we performed single cell RNA-sequencing on TDLU and duct samples from human normal breast to understand the differences between TDLU and duct which may give insights on cancer origin. We also performed single cell RNA-sequencing on lobular cancer samples and compared the lobular cancer data with our previously published ductal cancer data to understand the differences between lobular cancer and ductal cancer. Exploring the differences between TDLU and duct and differences between lobular cancer and ductal cancer at single cell level helps us further understand the mechanism of breast cancer genesis.