Functional Mammary Gland Organoids From Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
- 1Leiden University
Abstract
The human mammary gland arises through sequential lineage restrictions from surface ectoderm to hormone-responsive bilayered epithelium, yet a tractable in vitro model that captures these events has remained elusive. Here, we established a stepwise differentiation protocol that directs human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) into mammary organoids (MGOs) by sequential induction of non-neural ectoderm, mammary placodes, and lineage maturation in a defined medium. The resulting MGOs reproducibly formed polarized basal (KRT14+, TP63+) and luminal (KRT8+, GATA3+) layers, with ~25% of luminal cells expressing oestrogen receptor (ER). MGOs accumulated lipids, expressed {beta}-casein upon prolactin stimulation, and retained lineage fidelity after serial passaging. Upon transplantation into cleared mouse mammary fat pads, MGOs generated branched mammary ductal networks. Single-cell transcriptomics confirmed the emergence of basal, luminal hormone-sensing, luminal secretory, and stromal populations, transcriptionally aligned with adult human breast epithelium and responsive to endocrine disruption. These findings demonstrate that hiPSCs can be reprogrammed into functional mammary epithelium, providing a platform to dissect development, endocrine signalling, and breast cancer pathogenesis.
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BibTeX
@misc{nair2026functional,
title = {{Functional Mammary Gland Organoids From Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells}},
author = {R. R. Nair and M. Ganne and L. Mourao and S. E. Le Devedec and C. L. G. J. Scheele and P. Bouwman and B. van de Water},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.28.762519},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.28.762519v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Functional Mammary Gland Organoids From Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
AU - R. R. Nair
AU - M. Ganne
AU - L. Mourao
AU - S. E. Le Devedec
AU - C. L. G. J. Scheele
AU - P. Bouwman
AU - B. van de Water
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/28
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.28.762519
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.28.762519v1
AB - The human mammary gland arises through sequential lineage restrictions from surface ectoderm to hormone-responsive bilayered epithelium, yet a tractable in vitro model that captures these events has remained elusive. Here, we established a stepwise differentiation protocol that directs human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) into mammary organoids (MGOs) by sequential induction of non-neural ectoderm, mammary placodes, and lineage maturation in a defined medium. The resulting MGOs reproducibly formed polarized basal (KRT14+, TP63+) and luminal (KRT8+, GATA3+) layers, with ~25% of luminal cells expressing oestrogen receptor (ER). MGOs accumulated lipids, expressed {beta}-casein upon prolactin stimulation, and retained lineage fidelity after serial passaging. Upon transplantation into cleared mouse mammary fat pads, MGOs generated branched mammary ductal networks. Single-cell transcriptomics confirmed the emergence of basal, luminal hormone-sensing, luminal secretory, and stromal populations, transcriptionally aligned with adult human breast epithelium and responsive to endocrine disruption. These findings demonstrate that hiPSCs can be reprogrammed into functional mammary epithelium, providing a platform to dissect development, endocrine signalling, and breast cancer pathogenesis.
ER -