Ectopic Notch1 Activation Alters Mammary Cell Fate During Puberty and Promotes the Development of Lactating Adenomas during Pregnancy

The role that each of the Notch receptors play in controlling alveolar development and cell fate determination in the mouse mammary gland has remained unclear. By utilizing a cre-conditional constitutively active intracellular Notch1 knock-in I define, in vivo, that ectopic Notch1 activation is sufficient to inhibit ductal outgrowth, cause the formation of alveolar-like cell accumulations, and promote Elf5+/ER- cell fate, at the expense of ER+ cell fate, in the mammary gland of pubescent mice. Furthermore, ectopic Notch1 in the pregnant mammary gland is sufficient to promote the formation of pregnancy/lactation-dependent lactating adenomas. These lactating adenomas consist of differentiated secretory cells and normally regress during involution but progress into non-regressing tumours after multiple pregnancies. These lactating adenomas exhibit decapitation secretions characteristic of apocrine differentiation. Together these results suggest that Notch1 may function to promote Elf5+/ER- cell fate and may be misregulated in pregnancy-associated masses and apocrine-carcinoma of the breast in humans.MAS