Human Breast Cancer Cell Lines Co-Express Neuronal,Epithelial, and Melanocytic Differentiation Markers In Vitro and In Vivo
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| Authors: | Qingbei Zhang Hanli Fan Jikun Shen Robert M Hoffman H Rosie Xing |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Pathology, Cellular and Radiation Oncology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.; 2. Ludwig Center for Metastasis Research, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.; 3. AntiCancer, Inc., San Diego, California, United States of America.; 4. Department of Surgery, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California, United States of America.;Health Canada, Canada |
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| Abstract: | Differentiation programs are aberrant in cancer cells allowing them to express differentiation markers in addition to their tissue of origin. In the present study, we demonstrate the multi-lineage differentiation potential of breast cancer cell lines to express multiple neuronal/glial lineage-specific markers as well as mammary epithelial and melanocytic-specific markers. Multilineage expression was detected in luminal (MCF-7 and SKBR3) and basal (MDA-MB-231) types of human breast cancer cell lines. We also observed comparable co-expression of these three cell lineage markers in MDA-MB-435 cells in vitro, in MDA-MB-435 primary tumors derived from parental and single cell clones and in lung metastases in vivo. Furthermore, ectoderm multi-lineage transdifferentiation was also found in human melanoma (Ul-MeL) and glioblastoma cell lines (U87 and D54). These observations indicate that aberrant multi-lineage transdifferentiation or lineage infidelity may be a wide spread phenomenon in cancer. |
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