Molecular Oncology
Volume 1, Issue 1 , Pages 84-96, June 2007

The morphologies of breast cancer cell lines in three-dimensional assays correlate with their profiles of gene expression

  • Paraic A. Kenny

      Affiliations

    • Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, One Cyclotron Road, MS 977-225A, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
    • These authors contributed equally to this report.
    • ,
  • Genee Y. Lee

      Affiliations

    • Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, One Cyclotron Road, MS 977-225A, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
    • These authors contributed equally to this report.
    • ,
  • Connie A. Myers

      Affiliations

    • Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, One Cyclotron Road, MS 977-225A, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
    • Present address: Division of Neuropathology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
    • ,
  • Richard M. Neve

      Affiliations

    • Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, One Cyclotron Road, MS 977-225A, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
    • ,
  • Jeremy R. Semeiks

      Affiliations

    • Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, One Cyclotron Road, MS 977-225A, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
    • ,
  • Paul T. Spellman

      Affiliations

    • Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, One Cyclotron Road, MS 977-225A, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
    • ,
  • Katrin Lorenz

      Affiliations

    • Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, One Cyclotron Road, MS 977-225A, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
    • Present address: Department of Molecular Medicine, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, 82152 Martinsried, Germany.
    • ,
  • Eva H. Lee

      Affiliations

    • Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, One Cyclotron Road, MS 977-225A, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
    • ,
  • Mary Helen Barcellos-Hoff

      Affiliations

    • Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, One Cyclotron Road, MS 977-225A, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
    • ,
  • Ole W. Petersen

      Affiliations

    • Structural Cell Biology Unit, Institute of Medical Anatomy, The Panum Institute, University of Copenhagen, DK-2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark
    • ,
  • Joe W. Gray

      Affiliations

    • Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, One Cyclotron Road, MS 977-225A, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
    • ,
  • Mina J. Bissell

      Affiliations

    • Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, One Cyclotron Road, MS 977-225A, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +1 510 486 4365; Fax: +1 510 486 5586.

Received 31 January 2007; accepted 1 February 2007. published online 06 April 2007.

Abstract 

3D cell cultures are rapidly becoming the method of choice for the physiologically relevant modeling of many aspects of non-malignant and malignant cell behavior ex vivo. Nevertheless, only a limited number of distinct cell types have been evaluated in this assay to date. Here we report the first large scale comparison of the transcriptional profiles and 3D cell culture phenotypes of a substantial panel of human breast cancer cell lines. Each cell line adopts a colony morphology of one of four main classes in 3D culture. These morphologies reflect, at least in part, the underlying gene expression profile and protein expression patterns of the cell lines, and distinct morphologies were also associated with tumor cell invasiveness and with cell lines originating from metastases. We further demonstrate that consistent differences in genes encoding signal transduction proteins emerge when even tumor cells are cultured in 3D microenvironments.

Keywords: Breast cancer, 3D culture, Extracellular matrix, Gene expression profiling, Signal transduction

 

PII: S1574-7891(07)00007-5

doi:10.1016/j.molonc.2007.02.004

Molecular Oncology
Volume 1, Issue 1 , Pages 84-96, June 2007

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