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Use of an efficient method for culturing human mammary epithelial cells to study adriamycin sensitivity

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  • Mammary Epithelium
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Summary

Techniques are described for isolating, cryopreserving, and culturing human mammary epithelial cells of both normal and malignant origin. The cells can be grown either in mass culture or as a clonal assay suitable for quantitating drug sensitivity. With this clonal assay plating efficiencies of 6%–41% were routinely obtained. We examined the response to adriamycin of five different primary carcinoma cultures from patients without prior drug therapy. We were able to detect heterogeneity in response to adriamycin among the breast carcinoma cultures as well as heterogeneity among subpopulations within a single carcinoma. The differences in adriamycin sensitivity were unrelated to growth rates in culture.

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Author notes

  1. Sam Lan

    Present address: Department of Surgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Peralta Cancer Research Institute, 3023 Summit Street, 94609, Oakland, Ca, USA

    Helene S. Smith, Adeline J. Hackett, Sam Lan & Martha R. Stampfer

  2. Donner Laboratory, University of California, 94706, Berkeley, California, USA

    Helene S. Smith, Adeline J. Hackett, Sam Lan & Martha R. Stampfer

Authors
  1. Helene S. Smith
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  2. Adeline J. Hackett
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  3. Sam Lan
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  4. Martha R. Stampfer
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Smith, H.S., Hackett, A.J., Lan, S. et al. Use of an efficient method for culturing human mammary epithelial cells to study adriamycin sensitivity. Cancer Chemother. Pharmacol. 6, 237–244 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00256976

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00256976

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