title: Gene expression characteristics of breast cancer stem cells.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Breast cancer stem cells have been found to be responsible for tumorigenic potential and resistance to therapy. This study aimed at comparing gene expression profiles in breast cancer, based on the differences of stem cells in their biological characteristics.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four breast cancer cell lines with different molecular and biological characteristics were used to analyze 84 breast cancer-related gene expressions. These were the ductal human epithelial breast cancer cell line T47D (HTB-133) with metastatic origin, the invasive ductal human breast carcinoma cell line MDA-MB-231 (HTB-26), the ductal human epithelial breast cancer cell line BT-474 (HTB-20) and the human metastatic breast adenocarcinoma cell line MCF-7 (HTB-22).
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were significant differences between the breast cancer cells and the stem cells, particularly in angiogenesis, migration, proliferation and the expression of the DNA repair genes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data indicated the absence of a general cancer stem cell in breast cancer. Our study supports the use of the term "breast cancer initiating cells" instead of breast cancer stem cells. All of these genetic differences should be taken into account in the planning of final therapeutic approach.
authors.affiliation: Dokuz Eylul University, Institute of Oncology, Department of Basic Oncology, Izmir, Turkey.
authors.forename: Sait
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Murat Dogan
authors.forename: Ayse
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pinar Ercetin
authors.forename: Zekiye
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Altun
authors.forename: Duygu
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dursun
authors.forename: Safiye
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aktas
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D051927:CD24 Antigen / Q000032:analysis; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors / Q000032:analysis; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000235:genetics; D019700:Thrombospondin 1 / Q000235:genetics; D059467:Transcriptome; D051176:beta Catenin / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D051927:CD24 Antigen; C497889:CD24 protein, human; C497483:CD44 protein, human; C495270:CTNNB1 protein, human; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors; D019700:Thrombospondin 1; D051176:beta Catenin; C494918:AKT1 protein, human; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt