Gene expression analyses of C/EBPb knockout in stem/progenitor cell populations

CCAAT/enhancer binding protein beta (C/EBPb) is a member of a family of highly conserved transcription factors that regulates numerous genes involved in proliferation and differentiation in a variety of tissues. C/EBPb is deregulated in human breast cancer and germline deletion of this gene results in multiple defects in mammary gland development. We hypothesized that C/EBPb regulates mammary stem cell self-renewal, maintenance and/or differentiation through the regulation of multiple target genes that coordinate mammary gland development. Utilizing both a germline knockout mouse model and a conditional knockout strategy, we demonstrated that mammosphere formation was significantly decreased in C/EBPb-deficient mammary epithelial cells (MECs). The ability of C/EBPb-deleted MECs to regenerate the mammary gland in vivo was severely impaired when transplanted at limiting dilution. Furthermore, serial transplantation of C/EBPb-null mammary tissue resulted in decreased outgrowth potential when compared to wildtype, and an early senescence phenotype. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that C/EBPb-null MECs contain a lower frequency of repopulating stem cells accompanied by an increase in committed, differentiated luminal cells as compared to wildtype. Microarray analysis of stem/progenitor cell populations was performed and revealed an alteration in cell fate specification in C/EBPb-null glands, exemplified by the aberrant expression of basal markers in the luminal cell compartment. Collectively, our studies demonstrate that C/EBPb is a critical regulator of mammary stem cell differentiation, and an important determinant of luminal cell fate specification.

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LaMarca HL, Visbal AP, Creighton CJ, Liu H, Zhang Y, Behbod F, Rosen JM