An ultrastructural evaluation of cell heterogeneity in invasive ductal carcinomas of the human breast. II. An in vitro study.
The ultrastructural characterization of the present continuous cell line, derived from a primary ductal infiltrating carcinoma (d.i.c.) of the human breast, has brought to light a remarkable morphological similarity with the original neoplastic cell population. A major parallelism is the permanent presence in culture of two categories of cells, exhibiting a strong isomorphism with the in vivo counterparts. The presence of well defined ultrastructural features, as duct-like structures, microvillous projections, junctional complexes and intracytoplasmic crypts, is a further confirmation of the breast cancer origin of this line. The significance and perspective of these findings are discussed.
Pucci-Minafra
I
I
Dipartimento di Biologia Cellulare e dello Sviluppo, Università di Palermo, Italia.
Minafra
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S
Alessandro
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R
Faccini
A M
AM
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D002285:Carcinoma, Intraductal, Noninfiltrating / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D010641:Phenotype; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000648:ultrastructure