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Transfected MCF-7 cells as a model for breast cancer progression

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Summary

The MCF-7 human breast carcinoma cell line has been used as a recipient for eukaryotic plasmid expression vectors to determine the effects of growth factor and growth factor receptor overexpression on the estrogen-dependent, antiestrogen sensitive and poorly metastatic phenotypes exhibited by this line. Overexpression of some members of the erbB family of ligands and receptors were found to have some effects on these pheno-types. However, only when two members of the fibroblast growth factor family, FGF-1 and FGF-4, were overexpressed was progressivein vivo growth observed is either ovariectomized nude mice without estrogen supplementation or in mice that received tamoxifen treatment. FGF transfected cells also exhibited an increased ability to form micrometastases. The implications of these results with regard to the possible role of the paracrine and autocrine effects of angiogenic growth factor production in breast cancer progression are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Georgetown University Medical Center, 20007, Washington, DC, USA

    F. G. Kern, I. Y. F. Ding & D. Miller

  2. Department of Pharmacology and School of Nursing, Georgetown University Medical Center, 20007, Washington, DC, USA

    S. W. McLeskey

  3. Department of Medicine, Georgetown University Medical Center, 20007, Washington, DC, USA

    K. Cullen

  4. Department of Pathology, Georgetown University Medical Center, 20007, Washington, DC, USA

    S. Paik

  5. Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Georgetown University Medical Center, 20007, Washington, DC, USA

    R. B. Dickson

  6. Lombardi Cancer Research Center, Georgetown University School of Medicine, 20007, Washington, DC, USA

    F. G. Kern, S. W. McLeskey, L. Zhang, J. Kurebayashi, Y. Liu, I. Y. F. Ding, S. Kharbanda, D. Chen, D. Miller, K. Cullen, S. Paik & R. B. Dickson

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Kern, F.G., McLeskey, S.W., Zhang, L. et al. Transfected MCF-7 cells as a model for breast cancer progression. Breast Cancer Res Tr 31, 153–165 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00666149

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