Xenograft Model of Progressive Human Proliferative Breast Disease

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Progression of proliferative breast disease has been associated with increased risk for development of invasive carcinoma. Cell lines have been developed to facilitate the study of this process. Human cell line MCF10A originated from spontaneous immortalization of breast epithelial cells obtained from a patient with fibrocystic disease, and cell lines MCF10AneoN and MCF10AneoT were created by stable transfection of these cells with the neomycin-resistance gene and either the HRAS gene or the mutated T-24 HRAS gene, respectively. PURPOSE: Our goal was to develop an experimental model of progressive human proliferative breast disease. METHODS: MCF10A, MCF10AneoN, and MCF10AneoT cells were injected subcutaneously into the dorsal flank of male nude/beige (C57/BALB/c nu/nu bg/bg) mice (12 mice for each cell type). These mice were examined periodically for formation and persistence or growth of palpable nodules. One mouse per group was killed 1 week after cell injection; thereafter, mice were observed as long as possible. Cells were recovered from palpable lesions by enzymatic dissociation of the excised lesions. Cells re-established in tissue culture from a week-14 tumor (MCF10AneoT.TG1) were injected into 12 male nude/beige mice. Southern blot hybridization analysis of the HRAS gene locus and cytogenetic analyses were performed. RESULTS: Transplanted MCF10A and MCF10AneoN cells formed transient, small palpable nodules that regressed and disappeared during the 4th and 5th weeks. In 10 of the 12 mice, T-24 HRAS gene-transfected MCF10A cells (MCF10AneoT) formed small, flat nodules that persisted for at least 1 year. Three of these xenografts became carcinomas. One (removed 7 weeks after transplantation) was an undifferentiated carcinoma composed of polygonal cells with large, vesicular nuclei and numerous mitoses. The second (removed after 14 weeks) was an invasive squamous cell carcinoma. The third (removed after 56 weeks) was a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma. Initially, xenografts of MCF10AneoT.TG1 cells showed intraductal proliferative changes; after 23 weeks, the lesions showed histologic features resembling those seen in atypical hyperplasia of the human breast, and later lesions showed characteristics of carcinoma in situ. The MCF10 lineage of cells of three MCF10AneoT.TG1 xenografts was confirmed by DNA fingerprinting and karyotype analysis. CONCLUSIONS: MCF10AneoT and MCF10AneoT.TG1 comprise a transplantable xenograft model that produces a broad spectrum of human proliferative breast disease. IMPLICATIONS: The reproducible establishment of representative stages in early breast cancer progression from the MCF10 model offers a new opportunity to analyze critical events of carcinogenesis and progression in breast cancer.