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Fig. 4 | Breast Cancer Research

Fig. 4

From: Lineage plasticity enables low-ER luminal tumors to evolve and gain basal-like traits

Fig. 4

Basal-like MMTV-PYMT tumor cells arise from the luminal lineage. A, B Strategy to trace basal and luminal lineage tumor cells in MMTV-PyMT mice. Lineage-specific and tamoxifen-inducible CreERT2 was used to specifically label basal (A) or luminal (B) epithelial cells with GFP. C Representative flow cytometry plots of luminal and basal tumor cells inheriting the basal lineage GFP label. D, E Percentage of basal and luminal cells expressing basal lineage GFP in Krt5-CreERT/Rosa26-mTmG/MMTV-PyMT tumors (n = 7, p = 0.0513, unpaired t test) (D) and the normal Krt5-CreERT/Rosa26-mTmG mouse mammary gland (n = 4, p = 0.028, unpaired t test) (E). F Representative flow cytometry plots showing luminal and basal tumor cells inheriting the luminal lineage GFP label. G, H Percentage of basal and luminal cells expressing luminal lineage GFP in Krt8-CreERT/Rosa26-mTmG/MMTV-PyMT tumors (n = 8, p = 0.4938, unpaired t test) (G) and the normal Krt8-CreERT/Rosa26-mTmG mouse mammary gland (n = 4, p = 0.0005, unpaired t test) (H). I Representative images of TSA staining of Krt5-CreERT/Rosa26-mTmG/MMTV-PyMT and Krt8-CreERT/Rosa26-mTmG/MMTV-PyMT tumors. Samples were stained with Krt8 (purple), Krt5 (red), Krt14 (white), and GFP (green). Yellow arrows point to Krt5+ /GFP+ tumor cells, and green arrows point to Krt14+ /GFP+ tumor cells. J Quantification of lumino-basal tumor cells expressing GFP and strictly basal tumor cells expressing GFP from TSA-stained images of Krt8-CreERT/Rosa26-mTmG/MMTV-PyMT tumors. K Representative images of TSA staining of lung metastases from Krt5-CreERT/Rosa26-mTmG/MMTV-PyMT and Krt8-CreERT/Rosa26-mTmG/MMTV-PyMT mice. Samples were stained with Krt8 (purple), Krt14 (white), GFP (green), and DAPI (blue). White arrows point to Krt14-expressing cells

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