Skip to main content
Fig. 5 | Breast Cancer Research

Fig. 5

From: Local estrogen axis in the human bone microenvironment regulates estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer cells

Fig. 5

Bone tissue culture supernatants generated in the presence of aromatase inhibitors have reduced estrogen levels and diminished capacity to promote estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer cell proliferation. a Experimental design in which bone tissue fragments were cultured in the presence vs. absence of letrozole for 48 h. Supernatants were used to culture breast cancer cells growing on plastic, and were also analyzed for estradiol levels by ELISA. b ELISA analysis of estradiol levels in conditioned media generated by bone tissue fragments isolated from total hip replacement (THR) specimen THR 122 in the presence of 100 μM and 10 μM vs. 0 μM letrozole. The lowest estradiol levels were observed in supernatants generated in 100 μM, with higher values observed in supernatants generated in 10 μM and 0 μM letrozole, corresponding to estradiol levels of 47.5, 90.8, and 114.9 pg/mL, respectively (p < 0.0001) as determined by analysis of variance with the Brown-Forsythe test. c Bioluminescence imaging (BLI) signal detected for ER+ MCF-7, and ER- SK-BR-3 and MDA-MB-231 cells cultured in replicate supernatants generated by THR 122 fragments in the presence of 100 μM, 10 μM, and 0 μM letrozole. d Averaged triplicate BLI signal detected for each cell line shown in c. BLI signal was significantly reduced in ER+ MCF-7 cells, but not ER- SK-BR-3 or MDA-MB-231 cells cultured with conditioned media generated in the presence of 100 μM (***p = 0.0008) or 10 μM (*p = 0.03) vs. 0 μM letrozole, as determined by t test (n = 3, error bars represent standard deviation)

Back to article page