Single cell RNA-seq of an native and engineered metastatic niche in a metastatic breast cancer murine model

Metastatic lesions are typically not found until patients self-report symptoms or they become radiologically evident. We have developed an engineered metastatic niche (scaffold) that recruits aggressive tumor cells prior to their colonization in other organs. The engineered niche can be monitored for dynamic gene expression, and changes at this site are analogous to those in a native metastatic site (lung) for triple negative breast cancer (4T1 cells). We were able to develop a 10-gene signature from the scaffold that accurately monitors disease progression and recurrence or resistance to resection therapy. This data set acts to dissect the heterogeneity of the cell populations in the engineered and native metastatic niche and identify the cell types that contribute to the success of the signature.