Isolation and characterization of a breast progenitor epithelial cell line with robust DNA damage responses

We report the establishment of a breast epithelial cell model that undergoes growth arrest at different stages of the cell cycle depending upon the DNA damaging agents encountered. Primary breast epithelial cells from normal reductive mammoplasty were grown in low-calcium culture medium. Free-floating cells under this condition were separated and used for establishment of the MCF-15 breast epithelial cell line. We found that MCF-15 breast epithelial cells display a superb response to different phases of the cell cycle arrest in response to various DNA damaging agents. Immunohistological analysis indicates that MCF-15 cells express cytokeratin 19, CD44, CXCR4, SDF-1, SPARC and vimentin. Although less than 5% of the MCF-15 cells expressed Muc-1 in culture, increased Muc-1 expression was observed in luminal epithelial cells along the newly formed lumen in xenografts. Furthermore, a small population of MCF-15 cells expressed estrogen receptor-alpha (ERalpha) in xenografts while ERalpha expression was not detected in monolayer culture. Therefore, the MCF-15 breast epithelial cell line possesses characteristics of breast progenitor cells and provides a good cell culture model for studying the response to DNA damage and the etiology of aggressive basal-like breast cancers.