title: A rat mammary gland cancer cell with stem cell properties of self-renewal and multi-lineage differentiation.
abstract: The cancer stem cell hypothesis posits that tumors are derived from a single cancer-initiating cell with stem cell properties. The task of identifying and characterizing cancer-initiating cells with stem cell properties at the single cell level has proven technically difficult because of the scarcity of the cancer stem cells in the tissue of origin and the lack of specific markers for cancer stem cells. Here we show that a single LA7 cell, derived from rat mammary adenocarcinoma has: the ability to serially re-generate mammospheres in long-term non-adherent cultures, the differentiation potential to generate all the cell lineages of the mammary gland and branched duct-like structures that recapitulate morphologically and functionally the ductal-alveolar-like architecture of the mammary tree. The properties of self-renewal, extensive capacity for proliferation, multi-lineage differentiation and the tubular-like structure formation potential suggest that LA7 cells is a cancer stem model system to study the dynamics of tumor formation at the single cell level.
authors.affiliation: ITB-CNR, Via Cervi 93, 20090, Segrate (Milan), Italy.
authors.forename: Cinzia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cocola
authors.forename: Sveva
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sanzone
authors.forename: Simonetta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Astigiano
authors.forename: Paride
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pelucchi
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Piscitelli
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vilardo
authors.forename: Ottavia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Barbieri
authors.forename: Gloria
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bertoli
authors.forename: Rolland A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Reinbold
authors.forename: Ileana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Zucchi