TY - JOUR
T1 - Isolation and in vitro propagation of tumorigenic breast cancer cells with stem/progenitor cell properties
AU - Ponti, Dario
AU - Costa, Aurora
AU - Zaffaroni, Nadia
AU - Pratesi, Graziella
AU - Petrangolini, Giovanna
AU - Coradini, Danila
AU - Pilotti, Silvana
AU - Pierotti, Marco A.
AU - Daidone, Maria Grazia
PY - 2005/7/1
Y1 - 2005/7/1
N2 - Breast cancer-initiating cells have been recently identified in breast carcinoma as CD44+/CD24-/low cells, which exclusively retain tumorigenic activity and display stem cell-like properties. However, at present, direct evidence that breast cancer-initiating cells can be propagated in vitro is still lacking. We report here the isolation and in vitro propagation of breast cancer-initiating cells from three breast cancer lesions and from an established breast carcinoma cell line. Our breast carcinoma-derived cultures encompassed undifferentiated cells capable of self-renewal, extensive proliferation as clonal nonadherent spherical clusters, and differentiation along different mammary epithelial lineages (ductal and myoepithelial). Interestingly, cultured cells were CD44+/CD24- and Cx43-, overexpressed neoangiogenic and cytoprotective factors, expressed the putative stem cell marker Oct-4, and gave rise to new tumors when as few as 103 cells were injected into the mammary fat pad of SCID mice. Long-term cultures of breast tumorigenic cells with stem/progenitor cell properties represent a suitable in vitro model to study breast cancer-initiating cells and to develop therapeutic strategies aimed at eradicating the tumorigenic subpopulation within breast cancer.
AB - Breast cancer-initiating cells have been recently identified in breast carcinoma as CD44+/CD24-/low cells, which exclusively retain tumorigenic activity and display stem cell-like properties. However, at present, direct evidence that breast cancer-initiating cells can be propagated in vitro is still lacking. We report here the isolation and in vitro propagation of breast cancer-initiating cells from three breast cancer lesions and from an established breast carcinoma cell line. Our breast carcinoma-derived cultures encompassed undifferentiated cells capable of self-renewal, extensive proliferation as clonal nonadherent spherical clusters, and differentiation along different mammary epithelial lineages (ductal and myoepithelial). Interestingly, cultured cells were CD44+/CD24- and Cx43-, overexpressed neoangiogenic and cytoprotective factors, expressed the putative stem cell marker Oct-4, and gave rise to new tumors when as few as 103 cells were injected into the mammary fat pad of SCID mice. Long-term cultures of breast tumorigenic cells with stem/progenitor cell properties represent a suitable in vitro model to study breast cancer-initiating cells and to develop therapeutic strategies aimed at eradicating the tumorigenic subpopulation within breast cancer.
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U2 - 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-05-0626
DO - 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-05-0626
M3 - Article
C2 - 15994920
AN - SCOPUS:21344454219
VL - 65
SP - 5506
EP - 5511
JO - Journal of Cancer Research
JF - Journal of Cancer Research
SN - 0008-5472
IS - 13
ER -