Abstract 5197: Single-cell analysis of the brain metastatic microenvironment in breast cancer

Abstract Breast cancer brain metastasis affects 10-20% of patients, and there are no effective treatments. Activated infiltrating microglia and astrocytes are a major component of metastatic breast tumors in the brain, but it is not known whether these cells are involved in the promotion or rejection of breast cancer cells. To characterize the brain metastatic microenvironment, we used an FACS-based approach to capture pure and viable microglia and astrocytes from normal and metastatic mouse brains for single-cell mRNA sequencing analysis. Using this approach, we have captured more than 10,000 microglia and astrocytes from normal and metastatic brains. Applying our analysis pipelines to this data revealed distinct pathways and markers associated with microglia and astrocytes in metastatic brains. Future work will aim to identify spatial locations and function of specific microglia and astrocyte subpopulations in the metastatic brain. Citation Format: Katrina Evans, Quy Nguyen, Kerrigan Blake, Devon Lawson. Single-cell analysis of the brain metastatic microenvironment in breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5197.