ArticleDevelopment (Cambridge, England)2012
Macrophages are crucial for epithelial cell death and adipocyte repopulation during mammary gland involution.
Article in Development (Cambridge, England), 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 100 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
100 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 159 citations in OpenAlex.
- Abrupt involution induces inflammation, estrogenic signaling, and hyperplasia linking lack of breastfeeding with increased risk of breast cancer.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2019Pooled it
- Mammary adipocyte plasticity and epithelial crosstalk: roles in development, remodeling, and disease.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2026Review
- SOX9 and SEMA7A regulate cell plasticity in the postpartum mammary gland with implications for breast cancer.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Induction of senescence during postpartum mammary gland involution supports tissue remodeling and promotes postpartum tumorigenesis.Nature aging · 2026Article
- Luminal hormone-responsive cells tune the regenerative remodeling of mammary glands in large mammals.Cell discovery · 2025Article
- Semaphorin-7A promotes macrophage-mediated mammary epithelial and ductal carcinoma in situ invasion.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2025Article
- Morphophysiology and Hormonal Control of the Mammary Gland of the Bat Artibeus lituratus During Gestation and Lactation: Emphasis on Estradiol and Progesterone.Journal of morphology · 2025Article
- Dynamics of Macrophage Polarization Reveal Unique Phenotypes During Mouse Postpartum Uterine Remodeling.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Mammary intraepithelial lymphocytes and intestinal inputs shape T cell dynamics in lactogenesis.Nature immunology · 2025Article
- Differential ER stress responses during lactation and postpartum outcomes in mice depending on their mitochondrial genotype.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Semaphorin7A and PD-L1 cooperatively drive immunosuppression during mammary involution and breast cancer.Cell reports · 2025Article
- HCAR2 Modulates the Crosstalk between Mammary Epithelial Cells and Macrophages to Mitigate Staphylococcus aureus Infection in the Mouse Mammary Gland.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Divergent paths of mammary gland involution: unveiling the cellular dynamics in abruptly and gradually involuted mouse models.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2025Article
- Breast Cancer Immunity: It is TIME for the Next Chapter.Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine · 2024Review
- Defining and targeting macrophage heterogeneity in the mammary gland and breast cancer.Cancer medicine · 2024Review
- Toward Characterizing Lymphatic Vasculature in the Mammary Gland During Normal Development and Tumor-Associated Remodeling.Journal of mammary gland biology and neoplasia · 2024Review
- Status of breast cancer detection in young women and potential of liquid biopsy.Frontiers in oncology · 2024Review
- Understanding tissue-resident macrophages unlocks the potential for novel combinatorial strategies in breast cancer.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Review
- Obesity and lack of breastfeeding: a perfect storm to augment risk of breast cancer?Frontiers in oncology · 2024Review
- Review
40 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Mammary gland development is dependent on macrophages, as demonstrated by their requirement during the expansion phases of puberty and pregnancy. Equally dramatic tissue restructuring occurs following lactation, when the gland regresses to a state that histologically resembles pre-pregnancy through massive programmed epithelial cell death and stromal repopulation. Postpartum involution is characterized by wound healing-like events, including an influx of macrophages with M2 characteristics. Macrophage levels peak after the initial wave of epithelial cell death, suggesting that initiation and execution of cell death are macrophage independent. To address the role of macrophages during weaning-induced mammary gland involution, conditional systemic deletion of macrophages expressing colony stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R) was initiated just prior to weaning in the Mafia mouse model. Depletion of CSF1R(+) macrophages resulted in delayed mammary involution as evidenced by loss of lysosomal-mediated and apoptotic epithelial cell death, lack of alveolar regression and absence of adipocyte repopulation 7 days post-weaning. Failure to execute involution occurred in the presence of milk stasis and STAT3 activation, indicating that neither is sufficient to initiate involution in the absence of CSF1R(+) macrophages. Injection of wild-type bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) or M2-differentiated macrophages into macrophage-depleted mammary glands was sufficient to rescue involution, including apoptosis, alveolar regression and adipocyte repopulation. BMDMs exposed to the postpartum mammary involution environment upregulated the M2 markers arginase 1 and mannose receptor. These data demonstrate the necessity of macrophages, and implicate M2-polarized macrophages, for epithelial cell death during normal postpartum mammary gland involution.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.