The intra-epithelial CD68+/CD45+/CK8/18−/E-cadherin− macrophages were commonly associated with cancer cells (CD68−/CD45−) that showed reduced E-cadherin levels in human DCIS samples (N = 12) as measured by quantitative image analysis (Fig. 7d–f). Here, PTPRC is linked to ductal breast carcinoma in situ.