Differential in vivo tumorigenicity of distinct subpopulations from a luminal-like breast cancer xenograft.

Autor: Nirma Skrbo, Geir-Olav Hjortland, Alexandr Kristian, Ruth Holm, Silje Nord, Lina Prasmickaite, Olav Engebraaten, Gunhild M Mælandsmo, Therese Sørlie, Kristin Andersen
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2014
Předmět:
Zdroj: PLoS ONE, Vol 9, Iss 11, p e113278 (2014)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1932-6203
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0113278
Popis: Intratumor heterogeneity caused by genetic, phenotypic or functional differences between cancer cell subpopulations is a considerable clinical challenge. Understanding subpopulation dynamics is therefore central for both optimization of existing therapy and for development of new treatment. The aim of this study was to isolate subpopulations from a primary tumor and by comparing molecular characteristics of these subpopulations, find explanations to their differing tumorigenicity. Cell subpopulations from two patient derived in vivo models of primary breast cancer, ER+ and ER-, were identified. EpCAM+ cells from the ER+ model gave rise to tumors independently of stroma cell support. The tumorigenic fraction was further divided based on SSEA-4 and CD24 expression. Both markers were expressed in ER+ breast cancer biopsies. FAC-sorted cells based on EpCAM, SSEA-4 and CD24 expression were subsequently tested for differences in functionality by in vivo tumorigenicity assay. Three out of four subpopulations of cells were tumorigenic and showed variable ability to recapitulate the marker expression of the original tumor. Whole genome expression analysis of the sorted populations disclosed high similarity in the transcriptional profiles between the tumorigenic populations. Comparing the non-tumorigenic vs the tumorigenic populations, 44 transcripts were, however, significantly differentially expressed. A subset of these, 26 identified and named genes, highly expressed in the non-tumorigenic population, predicted longer overall survival (N = 737, p
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