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Figure 4 | Breast Cancer Research

Figure 4

From: An oestrogen-dependent model of breast cancer created by transformation of normal human mammary epithelial cells

Figure 4

Tumour formation in the mouse mammary gland. One million human mammary epithelial cells (HMECs) expressing oestrogen receptor alpha (ERα), BMI1, TERT and MYC were injected into the inguinal mammary fat pads of NOD/SCID mice; 2 × 105 HMFs were injected simultaneously with the HMECs to promote engraftment. (a-c) In the absence of exogenous oestrogen, fibrotic nodules containing HMFs but lacking epithelial cells were all that remained after 60 days. In this experiment only the HMFs were labelled with cyan fluorescent protein (CFP). (d-i) In the presence of exogenous oestrogen, HMECs readily formed invasive tumours. In this experiment only the HMECs were labelled with CFP. Time after injection: (d-f) 5 days, (g) 14 days, (h) 21 days, (i) 35 days. (a,d,g-i), Fluorescence; (b,e), normal light; (c,f), haematoxylin/eosin staining. In (f) the open arrowhead indicates tumour, the filled arrowhead indicates mouse ducts, and the asterisk indicates necrotic cells at the site of injection. Note that HMFs were labelled with CFP in (a-c), whereas HMECs were labelled with CFP in (d-i): in each experiment only a single cell type was labelled with CFP.

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