EHF is an essential driver of mammary alveolar lineage differentiation and putative suppressor of breast tumorigenesis

The Ets homologous factor (Ehf) is highly expressed in the mammary gland in pregnancy and lactation. Mothers with Ehf deletion fail to lactate due to impaired lobuloalveolar development. scRNA-seq profiling of mammary epithelial cells (MECs) at late pregnancy (18.5dP) demonstrated that EhfKO mammary gland comprised fewer differentiated alveolar cells, and an accumulation of the preceding cell populations in the secretory differentiation hierarchy. EhfKO mammary alveolar cells also displayed significant downregulation of milk proteins and lipids, and increased expression of proliferation markers indicating incomplete differentiation Overall design: Single cell RNA sequencing of mammary epithelial cells (Ter119–CD31-CD45–) from mice with and without deletion of Ehf at late pregnancy (18.5 days pregnant)