Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Briefing
  • Published:

Cellular and spatial remodeling of aging breast tissue revealed

In this study, imaging mass cytometry was used to chart the multicellular dynamics of breast tissue with age. The spatial distribution of 40 proteins in normal tissues from 527 women shows that the density of cells and their proliferation diminish as the breast ages, and that the proportion of inflammatory immune cells increases.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Age-associated changes in multicellular neighborhoods of the normal breast.
The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

References

  1. Nishimura, T. et al. Evolutionary histories of breast cancer and related clones. Nature 620, 607–614 (2023). This paper shows that somatic mutations accumulate steadily with age in normal breast tissue.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Williams, M. J. et al. Luminal breast epithelial cells of BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation carriers and noncarriers harbor common breast cancer copy number alterations. Nat. Genet. 56, 2753–2762 (2024). This paper shows that normal luminal epithelial cells contain copy-number alterations known to occur in breast tumors.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Lin, Y. et al. Normal breast tissues harbour rare populations of aneuploid epithelial cells. Nature 636, 663–670 (2024). This paper shows that copy-number alterations are detectable in normal breast tissue and their abundance correlates with age.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Pike, M. C., Krailo, M. D., Henderson, B. E., Casagrande, J. T. & Hoel, D. G. ‘Hormonal’ risk factors, ‘breast tissue age’ and the age-incidence of breast cancer. Nature 303, 767–770 (1983). A classic paper that investigates the link between the age-incidence of breast cancer and hormonal factors.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Danenberg, E. et al. Breast tumor microenvironment structures are associated with genomic features and clinical outcome. Nat. Genet. 54, 660–669 (2022). This paper uses imaging mass cytometry to discover recurrent multicellular structures in breast tumors.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This is a summary of: Gupta, P. et al. Single-cell spatial atlas of the aging human breast. Nat. Aging https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-026-01104-3 (2026).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cellular and spatial remodeling of aging breast tissue revealed. Nat Aging 6, 748–749 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-026-01111-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-026-01111-4

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Cancer

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Cancer newsletter — what matters in cancer research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get what matters in cancer research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Cancer