title: Lineage infidelity of MDA-MB-435 cells: expression of melanocyte proteins in a breast cancer cell line.
abstract: The origin of cell lines is critical in defining cell type-specific biological functions. Several reports suggested that the MDA-MB-435 cell line, a cell line extensively used for studying breast cancer biology, has a gene expression pattern most compatible with melanocyte origin. However, we demonstrate that MDA-MB-435 cells express breast-specific or epithelial-specific markers. Also, MDA-MB-435 cells were induced to express breast differentiation-specific proteins and secrete milk lipids as observed in other well-established breast cancer cell lines. Notably, MDA-MB-435 cells also expressed melanocyte-specific proteins as did another highly aggressive breast cancer cell line. MDA-MB-435 xenograft tissue sections stained entirely positive for epithelium-specific markers but only partially positive for melanocyte-specific markers. Thus, MDA-MB-435 is most likely a breast epithelial cell line that has undergone lineage infidelity.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Surgical Oncology, Cancer Biology, and Molecular Therapeutics, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Shankar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sellappan
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Grijalva
authors.forename: Xiaoyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Wentao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Menashe Bar
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Eli
authors.forename: Gordon B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Mills
authors.forename: Dihua
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D002364:Caseins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D019070:Cell Lineage; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids / Q000096:biosynthesis; D058965:MART-1 Antigen; D008544:Melanocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D016513:Mice, SCID; D014442:Monophenol Monooxygenase / Q000096:biosynthesis; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D009928:Organ Specificity; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D002364:Caseins; D008055:Lipids; D058965:MART-1 Antigen; C548667:MLANA protein, human; C548668:Mlana protein, mouse; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D014442:Monophenol Monooxygenase