High Expression of CD200 and CD200R1 Distinguishes Stem and Progenitor Cell Populations within Mammary Repopulating Units.

Aiming to unravel the top of the mammary epithelial cell hierarchy, a subset of the CD49fCD24 mammary repopulating units (MRUs) was identified by flow cytometry, expressing high levels of CD200 and its receptor CD200R1. These MRU repopulated a larger area of de-epithelized mammary fat pads than the rest of the MRUs, termed MRU. MRU maintained a much lower number of divergently defined, highly expressed genes and pathways that support better cell growth, development, differentiation, and progenitor activity than their MRU counterparts. A defined profile of hierarchically associated genes supporting a single-lineage hypothesis was confirmed by in vitro mammosphere analysis that assembled 114 genes with decreased expression from MRU via MRU toward CD200CD200R1 and CD200R1CD200 cells. About 40% of these genes were shared by a previously published database of upregulated genes in mammary/breast stem cells and may represent the core genes involved in mammary stemness.