title: Isolation and characterization of a spontaneously immortalized human breast epithelial cell line, MCF-10.
abstract: Two sublines of a breast epithelial cell culture, MCF-10, derived from human fibrocystic mammary tissue exhibit immortality after extended cultivation in low calcium concentrations (0.03-0.06 mM) and floating transfers in low calcium (MCF-10F), or by trypsin-Versene passages in the customary (normal) calcium levels, 1.05 mM (MCF-10A). Both sublines have been maintained as separate entities after 2.3 years (849 days) in vitro and at present have been in culture for longer than 4 years. MCF-10 has the characteristics of normal breast epithelium by the following criteria: (a) lack of tumorigenicity in nude mice; (b) three-dimensional growth in collagen; (c) growth in culture that is controlled by hormones and growth factors; (d) lack of anchorage-independent growth; and (e) dome formation in confluent cultures. Cytogenetic analysis prior to immortalization showed normal diploid cells; although later passages showed minimal rearrangement and near-diploidy, the immortal cells were not karyotypically normal. The emergence of an immortal culture in normal calcium media was not an inherent characteristic of the original tissue from which MCF-10 was derived since reactivated cryo-preserved cells from cultures grown for 0.3 and 1.2 years in low calcium were incapable of sustained growth in normal calcium.
authors.affiliation: Michigan Cancer Foundation, Detroit.
authors.forename: H D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Soule
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Maloney
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Wolman
authors.forename: W D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Peterson
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brenz
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: McGrath
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Russo
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Pauley
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Brooks
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology*; D002452:Cell Count; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D011519:Proto-Oncogenes; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D013539:Simian virus 40 / Q000235:genetics; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases