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Mesenchymal stem cells from primary breast cancer tissue promote cancer proliferation and enhance mammosphere formation partially via EGF/EGFR/Akt pathway

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Abstract

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) play a critical role in promoting cancer progression. However, it is not clear whether MSCs are located in breast cancer tissues and correlated with tumor proliferation. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of MSCs in breast cancer tissues and evaluate their interactions with cancer cells. We successfully isolated and identified MSCs from primary breast cancer tissues. Breast cancer-associated MSCs (BC-MSCs) showed homogenous immunophenotype, and possessed tri-lineage differentiation potential (osteoblast, adipocyte, and chondrocyte). When co-transplanted with cancer cells in a xenograft model in vivo, BC-MSCs significantly increased the volume and weight of tumors. We observed that BC-MSCs stimulated mammosphere formation in the transwell co-culture system in vitro. This effect was significantly suppressed by the EGF receptor inhibitor. We verified that BC-MSCs could secrete EGF and activate cancer cell’s EGF receptors. Furthermore, our data showed that EGF derived from BC-MSCs could promote mammosphere formation via the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Our results confirmed the presence of MSC in primary breast cancer tissues, and they could provide a favorable microenvironment for tumor cell growth in vivo, partially enhance mammosphere formation via the EGF/EGFR/Akt pathway.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (No:2006AA02A107), the Major State Basic Research Program of China (No:2009CB521704, 2010CB945504), and National Nature Science Foundation of China, (30873031, 30971145).

Conflict of interest

The authors confirm that there are no conflicts of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Lab, Beijing Institute of Transfusion Medicine, 27 Taiping Road, Beijing, 100850, China

    Xin-long Yan, Lin Chen, Jin-hua Qin, Quan Zeng, Hong-feng Yuan, Xue Nan, Hai-xu Chen, Jun-nian Zhou, Xiao-mei Zhang, Wen Yue & Xue-tao Pei

  2. Department of Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100071, China

    Chun-jiang Fu & Cheng-ze Yu

  3. Beijing Fangshan Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Beijing, 102400, China

    Chun-jiang Fu

  4. Department of Cell Biology, Institute of Biotechnology, Beijing, 100071, China

    Yan-li Lin

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  1. Xin-long Yan
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  2. Chun-jiang Fu
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  3. Lin Chen
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  4. Jin-hua Qin
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  5. Quan Zeng
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  12. Cheng-ze Yu
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  13. Wen Yue
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Wen Yue or Xue-tao Pei.

Additional information

Xin-long Yan and Chun-jiang Fu contributed equally to this work.

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Yan, Xl., Fu, Cj., Chen, L. et al. Mesenchymal stem cells from primary breast cancer tissue promote cancer proliferation and enhance mammosphere formation partially via EGF/EGFR/Akt pathway. Breast Cancer Res Treat 132, 153–164 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-011-1577-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-011-1577-0

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