Authenticated Breast Cancer Cell Lines for Cancer Research

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women and a leading cause of death due to cancer. It starts as a localized tumor, but can metastasize to distant sites and cause mortality. Breast cancers are heterogeneous and pose challenges for diagnosis and treatment. Especially challenging are so-called triple negative breast cancers, or those in which the tumor does not express the three types of receptors most closely associated with breast cancer growth–estrogen, progesterone, and HER-2/neu and which do not respond to any hormonal therapies¹.

Types of Breast Cancer

Ductal and lobular carcinomas are two types of breast cancers named for their tissues of origin. Based on the presence of receptors they are classified into hormone receptor-positive, HER2-positive, and triple-negative cancers.

Hormone receptor-positive	HER2-positive	Triple-negative
Cancer cells expressing either estrogen or progesterone receptors	Cancer cells expressing human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)	Tumors which do not express any of the receptors for estrogen, progesterone, or human epidermal growth factor (HER2)
Cell lines: T47D, ZR-75-1, FM3A, ZR-75-30, MDA-MB-361, MCF7, MFM-223	Cell lines: MTSV1-7 CE1, HMT-3522 S1, HMT-3522 S2	Cell lines: Hs 578T, MDA-MB-157

Risk factors

Age is the major risk factor for breast cancer, where incidence increases with advancing age. Increased exposure to estrogen during menses at a young age, and first pregnancy at an older age are other important risk factors².

Mutations

Commonly mutated genes in breast cancer include PIK3CA, TP53, MED12, GATA3, and PTEN. However, mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 alone account for half of familial inherited breast cancer cases, and may additionally place individuals carrying these mutations at higher risk for other malignancies including ovarian cancer.

Select cell lines by genetic mutation from the table below and click genes to find relevant products (antibodies, shRNA, siRNA, primers, CRISPR plasmids) for your research study.

Table 1. Breast cancer cell lines with specific somatic mutations

Mutated gene	Cell lines
BRCA2	MDA-MB-361, ZR-75-30
PIK3CA	MCF7, T47D, MFM-223, MDA-MB-361, Hs 578T
TP53	MDA-MB-231, T47D, MDA-MB-157, MFM-223, MDA-MB-361, Hs 578T
MED12	MDA-MB-157, Hs 578T
GATA3	Hs 578T
PTEN	ZR-75-1
SPEN	T47D, MDA-MB-157, MDA-MB-361

Small Molecules/Monoclonal Antibodies

Small molecule compounds and antibodies can be used to target cancer cells and block tumor growth and progression. There are various small molecule compounds and antibodies that can target breast cancer based on stage and type of tumor.

Types of targeted breast cancer drugs include:

• Monoclonal antibodies (Trastuzumab, Pertuzumab)
• Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (Lapatinib)
• Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors (Palbociclib, Ribociclib)
• mTOR inhibitors (Everolimus).

In addition, investigations of poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors are underway to target triple negative breast cancers³.

Applications

Cancer cell lines are the foundation for cancer research. They have been extensively used in countless studies because they are easy to use and cost-effective. Based on the characteristics of the cell line and experimental need, cell lines may be used in one or more applications.

Application	Cell line used
Drug response studies	MCF-10F, MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines were used to study the apoptotic effects of noscapine4 Anti-cancer effects of vitamin D analogues were investigated in tamoxifen-resistant MCF-7/TAMR-1 cell lines5
Evaluation of new treatment strategies	Panel of breast cancer cell lines, like T47D, MCF7, MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468 were used to investigate the additive effects of cilengitide and radiation (combination treatment)6 Anti-cancer properties of a novel dual-target steroid sulfatase inhibitor (SR 161157) were studied in MCF7 and MCF-7/S0.5 cell lines7
Target identification/validation	MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines were used to evaluate novel drug targets, such as ATR and CHEK18
Targeted drug delivery	Effects of targeted drug delivery of nanoparticle formulations were studied in MCF7 cell line9
Growth factor signaling	MFM-223 and MDA-MB-436 cell lines were employed to test the effects of adiponectin on cancer cell migration10
Cell migration studies	ZR-75-30 cell line was used to investigate anti-migration effects of berberine, a plant-derived compound11
Tumor micro-environment	MCF7, T47D, MMT-060562 and ZR-75-1 cell lines12 were used to study the biological role of stromal cells (adipocytes) in tumor micro environment PMC42-LA cell line was used as model to study the signaling between epithelial and stromal cells in the development of breast cancer13
miRNA regulation studies	Biological role of miR-155 was investigated in MDA-MB-157 cell line14

ECACC Breast Cancer Cell Lines

Product No.	Cell Name	Cell Line Origin
10081201	1-7HB2	Human breast cancer, adhesion properties
96112021	BICR/M1RK	Rat Marshall mammary tumour
90060504	C127I	Mouse RIII mammary tumour
90110502	CL-S1	Mouse BALB/c mammary alveolar nodules, pre-neoplastic
87091701	CNC 127I	Mouse RIII mammary tumour
87100804	FM3A	Mouse C3H mammary carcinoma
87111904	FM3Ats C1.T85	Mouse C3H mammary carcinoma
98102210	HMT-3522 S1	Human Caucasian breast epithelial
98102211	HMT-3522 S2	Human Caucasian breast epithelial
98102212	HMT-3522 T4-2	Human breast carcinoma
86082104	Hs 578T	Human breast carcinoma
86012803	MCF7	Human Caucasian breast adenocarcinoma
92020422	MDA-MB-157	Human breast medulla carcinoma
92020424	MDA-MB-231	Human Caucasian breast adenocarcinoma
92020423	MDA-MB-361	Human Caucasian breast adenocarcinoma; brain metastasis
98050130	MFM-223	Human Caucasian mammary carcinoma
90111911	MMT-060562	Mouse C57BL x A/F1 mammary tumour
10081202	MTSV1-7 CE1	Breast cancer, morphogenesis, adhesion properties
87121104	P1.HTR	Mouse DBA/2 mastocytoma
87121103	P1.HTR.TK-	Mouse DBA/2 mastocytoma
87121102	P1Bb1.1 (DBA/2)	Mouse DBA/2 mastocytoma
85011406	P815-1-1	Mouse DBA/2 mastocytoma
94122105	SVCT	Human breast epithelium, SV40 transformed
85102201	T47D	Human breast tumour
85061102	TA3 Hauschka	Mouse mammary carcinoma
05092804	VP229	Human breast cancer
05092805	VP267	Human breast cancer
05092806	VP303	Human breast cancer
87012601	ZR-75-1	Human Caucasian breast carcinoma
88113004	ZR-75-30	Human breast carcinoma

References

1. Hutchinson L. 2010. Challenges, controversies, breakthroughs. Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 7(12):669-670. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2010.192

2. STUCKEY A. 2011. Breast Cancer. 54(1):96-102. https://doi.org/10.1097/grf.0b013e3182080056

3. Jamdade VS, Sethi N, Mundhe NA, Kumar P, Lahkar M, Sinha N. 2015. Therapeutic targets of triple-negative breast cancer: a review. Br J Pharmacol. 172(17):4228-4237. https://doi.org/10.1111/bph.13211

4. Willmann L, Schlimpert M, Halbach S, Erbes T, Stickeler E, Kammerer B. 2015. Metabolic profiling of breast cancer: Differences in central metabolism between subtypes of breast cancer cell lines. Journal of Chromatography B. 100095-104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jchromb.2015.07.021

5. Larsen SS, Heiberg I, Lykkesfeldt AE. Anti-oestrogen resistant human breast cancer cell lines are more sensitive towards treatment with the vitamin D analogue EB1089 than parent MCF-7 cells. Br J Cancer. 84(5):686-690. https://doi.org/10.1054/bjoc.2000.1646

6. Lautenschlaeger T, Perry J, Peereboom D, Li B, Ibrahim A, Huebner A, Meng W, White J, Chakravarti A. 2013. In vitro study of combined cilengitide and radiation treatment in breast cancer cell lines. Radiat Oncol. 8(1): https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-717x-8-246

7. Rasmussen LM, Zaveri NT, Stenvang J, Peters RH, Lykkesfeldt AE. 2007. A novel dual-target steroid sulfatase inhibitor and antiestrogen: SR 16157, a promising agent for the therapy of breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 106(2):191-203. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-007-9494-y

8. Abdel-Fatah TM, Middleton FK, Arora A, Agarwal D, Chen T, Moseley PM, Perry C, Doherty R, Chan S, Green AR, et al. 2015. Untangling the ATR-CHEK1 network for prognostication, prediction and therapeutic target validation in breast cancer. 9(3):569-585. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molonc.2014.10.013

9. Dadras P, Atyabi F, Irani S, Ma'mani L, Foroumadi A, Mirzaie ZH, Ebrahimi M, Dinarvand R. 2017. Formulation and evaluation of targeted nanoparticles for breast cancer theranostic system. European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 9747-54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejps.2016.11.005

10. Jia Z, Liu Y, Cui S. 2014. Adiponectin Induces Breast Cancer Cell Migration and Growth Factor Expression. Cell Biochem Biophys. 70(2):1239-1245. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12013-014-0047-9

11. Ma W, Zhu M, Zhang D, Yang L, Yang T, Li X, Zhang Y. 2017. Berberine inhibits the proliferation and migration of breast cancer ZR-75-30 cells by targeting Ephrin-B2. Phytomedicine. 2545-51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phymed.2016.12.013

12. Manabe Y, Toda S, Miyazaki K, Sugihara H. 2003. Mature adipocytes, but not preadipocytes, promote the growth of breast carcinoma cells in collagen gel matrix culture through cancer-stromal cell interactions. J. Pathol.. 201(2):221-228. https://doi.org/10.1002/path.1430

13. Lebret SC, Newgreen DF, Thompson EW, Ackland ML. 2007. Induction of epithelial to mesenchymal transition in PMC42-LA human breast carcinoma cells by carcinoma-associated fibroblast secreted factors. Breast Cancer Res. 9(1): https://doi.org/10.1186/bcr1656

14. Zheng S, Guo G, Zhai Q, Zou Z, Zhang W. 2013. Effects of miR-155 Antisense Oligonucleotide on Breast Carcinoma Cell Line MDA-MB-157 and Implanted Tumors. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention. 14(4):2361-2366. https://doi.org/10.7314/apjcp.2013.14.4.2361