Telomerase-immortalized human mammary stem/progenitor cells with ability to self-renew and differentiate

摘要: There is increasing evidence that breast and other cancers originate from are maintained by a small fraction of stem/progenitor cells with self-renewal properties. Whether such cancer normal stem based on initiation de novo cell program, reprogramming more differentiated type oncogenic insults, or both remains unresolved. A major hurdle in addressing these issues lack immortal human can be deliberately manipulated vitro. We present telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT)-immortalized mammary epithelial (hMECs) isolated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute 1 (DFCI-1) medium retain progenitor These coexpress basal (K5, K14, vimentin), luminal (E-cadherin, K8, K18, K19), (CD49f, CD29, CD44, p63) markers. Clonal derivatives progenitors coexpressing markers fall into two distinct types—a K5+/K19− K5+/K19+ type. show types have differentiation ability. Microarray analyses confirmed the differential expression components stem/progenitor-associated pathways, as Notch, Wnt, Hedgehog, LIF, compared cells. Given emerging serve precursors for cancers, cellular reagents represent timely invaluable resource to explore unresolved questions related origin cancer.