Figure 4

Systemic oestrogen signalling is mediated by EGFR and Notch. (A) Representative Western blot showing expression of cleaved (active) Notch1 (N1-ICD) following culture ± 1 nM 17β-estradiol ± 10 μM GSI. (Bi) Representative Western blot showing expression of Notch ligands in sorted MCF7 cells (left) and, where available, metastatic cells (right). (Bii) Densitometric analysis of three independent repeats of MCF7 sorting and of a single experiment for primary cells. Comparisons between population 1 (CSC enriched) and other populations are displayed. (C and D) Mammosphere formation was assessed following culture with 1 nM 17β-estradiol ± gamma secretase inhibitor (GSI) alone and in combination with gefitinib. Fold change is normalised to control, untreated cells represented as line. (E) Representative image of protein levels of ERK and phosphorylated (actived) ERK following culture for 48 hours in monolayer ± 10 μM GSI. Means plotted ± SEM, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 compared to E2 treated. # P < 0.05 compared to control cells.