In the Murine and Bovine Maternal Mammary Gland Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 is Activated in Clusters of Epithelial Cells around the Day of Birth

Laura J A Hardwick; Benjamin P Davies; Sara Pensa; Maedee Burge-Rogers; Claire Davies; André Figueiredo Baptista; Robert Knott; Ian S McCrone; Eleonora Po; Benjamin W Strugnell; Katie Waine; Paul Wood; Walid T Khaled; Huw D Summers; Paul Rees; John W Wills; Katherine Hughes

doi:10.1007/s10911-024-09561-5

In the Murine and Bovine Maternal Mammary Gland Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 3 is Activated in Clusters of Epithelial Cells around the Day of Birth

J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia. 2024 May 9;29(1):10. doi: 10.1007/s10911-024-09561-5.

Authors

Laura J A Hardwick^#^{1

2}, Benjamin P Davies^#¹, Sara Pensa^{3

4}, Maedee Burge-Rogers¹, Claire Davies⁵, André Figueiredo Baptista¹, Robert Knott^{1

6}, Ian S McCrone¹, Eleonora Po¹, Benjamin W Strugnell⁷, Katie Waine^{7

8}, Paul Wood^{1

9}, Walid T Khaled^{3

4}, Huw D Summers¹⁰, Paul Rees^{10

11}, John W Wills¹², Katherine Hughes¹³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ES, UK.
² Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK.
³ Department of Pharmacology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
⁴ Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
⁵ The Fold Farm Vets Ltd, Tyne Green, Hexham, Northumberland, UK.
⁶ Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Langford, UK.
⁷ Farm Post Mortems Ltd, Durham, UK.
⁸ Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T3R 1J3, Canada.
⁹ SRUC Aberdeen, Craibstone Estate, Bucksburn, Aberdeen, UK.
¹⁰ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
¹¹ Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
¹² Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ES, UK. jw2020@cam.ac.uk.
¹³ Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ES, UK. kh387@cam.ac.uk.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT) proteins regulate mammary development. Here we investigate the expression of phosphorylated STAT3 (pSTAT3) in the mouse and cow around the day of birth. We present localised colocation analysis, applicable to other mammary studies requiring identification of spatially congregated events. We demonstrate that pSTAT3-positive events are multifocally clustered in a non-random and statistically significant fashion. Arginase-1 expressing cells, consistent with macrophages, exhibit distinct clustering within the periparturient mammary gland. These findings represent a new facet of mammary STAT3 biology, and point to the presence of mammary sub-microenvironments.

Keywords: Macrophage; Mammary; Parturition; STAT3; Spatial statistics; Udder.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Cattle
Epithelial Cells* / metabolism
Female
Mammary Glands, Animal* / cytology
Mammary Glands, Animal* / growth & development
Mammary Glands, Animal* / metabolism
Mice
Parturition / metabolism
Parturition / physiology
Phosphorylation
Pregnancy
STAT3 Transcription Factor* / metabolism
Signal Transduction

Substances

STAT3 Transcription Factor
Stat3 protein, mouse

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding