Figure 6

Hierarchal trees reveal differences in the cellular hierarchy of Type I/Type II and Type III lobules. (A) No correlations were found among specific cell populations, lobule type, or patient age. Percentage of epithelial cells in mature luminal (ML), luminal progenitor cell (LPC), mature basal (MB), and basal progenitor cell (BPC) populations assessed by flow cytometry analysis were compared to the percentage of each type of lobule found within the breast tissue for each patient sample (n = 8). (B) Spanning-tree progression analysis of density-normalized events (SPADE) was performed on flow cytometry data for protein markers EpCAM, CD24, and CD49f from eight patient samples with characterized lobule composition. Node size reflects the median number of cells in each population across the heterogeneous population. Dashed lines represent cell populations delineated by cell surface marker profiles. (C) The cell frequencies from breast samples with enrichment for Type I/Type II and Type III lobules were separated and visualized across the SPADE-derived tree. Nodes are colored by the median intensities of cell numbers in each node. Dashed lines represent cell populations delineated by cell surface marker profiles. (D, E) SPADE was performed on flow cytometry data for EpCAM, CD24, and CD49f for breast samples enriched for Type I/Type II (D) and Type III (E) lobules (n = 4 samples each). Dashed lines represent cell populations delineated by cell surface marker profiles. MLN, mammary lineage negative.