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Establishment and characterization of a new mammary adenocarcinoma cell line derived from MMTV neu transgenic mice

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Abstract

A new murine cell line, named MG1361, was established from mammary adenocarcinomas arising in a MMTV-neu transgenic mouse lineage where breast tumors develop in 100% of females, due to the over-expression of the activated rat neu oncogene in the mammary gland. The MG1361 cell line shows an epithelial-like morphology, has a poor plating efficiency, low clonogenic capacity, and a doubling time of 23.8 hours. Karyotype and flow cytometry analysis revealed a hypotetraploid number of chromosomes, whereas cell cycle analysis showed 31.2% of cells to be in the G1 phase, 21.4% in S and 47.4% in G2 + M. This cell line maintains a high level of neu expression in vitro. The MG1361 cell line was tumorigenic when inoculated in immunodeficient (nude) mice and the derived tumors showed the same histological features as the primary tumors from which they were isolated. MG1361 cells were positive for specific ER and PgR binding which was competed by tamoxifen, making this cell line useful for the evaluation of endocrine therapy. Moreover, they were sensitive to etoposide treatment, suggesting that they could be a model for the study of chemotherapy-induced apoptosis. As the tumors arising in MMTV-neu transgenic mice have many features in common with human mammary adenocarcinomas (Sacco et al., Gene Therapy 1995; 2: 493–497), this cell line can be utilized to perform basic studies on the role of the neu oncogene in the maintenance of the transformed phenotype, and to test novel protocols of therapeutic strategies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto di Tecnologie Biomediche Avanzate, CNR, Milano, ITALY

    Maria Grazia Sacco, Ileana Zucchi, Luca Bagnasco, Cristina Montagna, Anna Villa & Paolo Vezzoni

  2. European Communities, Joint Research Center, ECVAM, Ispra, ITALY

    Laura Gribaldo, Angelo Collotta & Erminio Marafante

  3. Dip. Oncologia Clinica e Sperimentale, Università di Genova, Genova, ITALY

    Ottavia Barbieri

  4. Laboratorio di Genetica Università, Pisa, ITALY

    Gino Turchi

  5. Istituto di Ricerche Biomediche 'A. Marxer' RBM SpA, Colleretto di Giacosa (TO), Italy

    Domenico Barone

Authors
  1. Maria Grazia Sacco
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  2. Laura Gribaldo
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  3. Ottavia Barbieri
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  4. Gino Turchi
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  5. Ileana Zucchi
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  6. Angelo Collotta
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  7. Luca Bagnasco
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  8. Domenico Barone
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  9. Cristina Montagna
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  10. Anna Villa
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  11. Erminio Marafante
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  12. Paolo Vezzoni
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Sacco, M.G., Gribaldo, L., Barbieri, O. et al. Establishment and characterization of a new mammary adenocarcinoma cell line derived from MMTV neu transgenic mice. Breast Cancer Res Treat 47, 171–180 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005988715285

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