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Figure 3 | Breast Cancer Research

Figure 3

From: Aldehyde dehydrogenase and estrogen receptor define a hierarchy of cellular differentiation in the normal human mammary epithelium

Figure 3

ER+ cells proliferate in vitro and in vivo and generate progeny expressing luminal lineage markers. (A-C) ER+ cells sorted and plated at clonogenic densities on a collagen substratum generated colonies positive for the luminal markers CK18 (A, B), MUC1 (B), and EpCAM (C), and negative for the basal/myoepithelial epithelial markers CK14 (A) and CD10 (C). (D) ER+ cells did not generate mammospheres. (E-G) Sorted ER– cells generated on collagen substrate mixed luminal/basal/myoepithelial colonies composed of CK14+ and CK18+ cells (E), myoepithelial colonies composed of CD10+/EpCAM– cells (F), and luminal colonies composed of CD10–/EpCAM+ cells (G). (H) ER– cells generated mammospheres in suspension culture. (I) IHC showing ER expression in mammospheres derived from ER– cells. (J-M) Representative sections through epithelial ducts generated in vivo by ER+ cells. Immunostaining showed positivity for luminal marker CK18 (K) but not myoepithelial marker SMA (L). ER+ cells could also be seen (M). (N-Q) Representative sections through epithelial ducts generated in vivo by ER– cells. Immunostaining showed positivity for both luminal marker CK18 (O) and myoepithelial marker SMA (P), as well as for ER (Q). Scale bar = 50 μm. (R) Quantitative analysis of types of colonies generated by the ER+ and ER– cell populations. (S) Efficiency of primary sphere formation from ER+ and ER– cell populations. ER+ cells did not produce any mammospheres. Representative data from two different mammary samples.

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