Figure 2

Administration of exogenous palmitate is toxic specifically to ERBB2-positive cells. (a) BT474, MDA-MB-361, MCF-7 and human mammary epithelial cell (HMEC) cells treated with 250, 500, and 750 μmol/l palmitate for 72 hours. Cell counts are shown as percentage of seeded cell number at 0 hours. Error bars indicate the standard deviation from three individual experiments). (b) Quantification of neutral fat stores of BT474, MDA-MB-361, MCF-7, and HMEC cells treated with 250, 500, and 750 μmol/l palmitate for 72 hours by using the BODIPY 493/503 lipid probe staining. Error bars indicate the standard deviation from three individual experiments. (c) BT474, MDA-MB-361, MCF-7, and HMEC cells treated with 500 μmol/l palmitate and/or 20 μmol/l GW9662 for 72 hours. Cell counts are shown as percentage of seeded cell number at 0 hours. Error bars indicate the standard deviation from three individual experiments. ***P < 0.0005, **P = 0.03.