Related Experiment Video For Breast cancer
Updated: Feb 15, 2026

Isolation and Functional Assessment of Human Breast Cancer Stem Cells from Cell and Tissue Samples
Published on: October 2, 2020
In Vitro Assays of Breast Cancer Stem Cells
Debangshu Samanta1,2, Gregg L Semenza3,4,5
1McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Abstract:
Aldehyde dehydrogenase and mammosphere assays enable the cost-effective quantification and characterization of cancer stem cells (CSCs) from cancer cell lines as well as cancer tissue. Here we describe the quantification of CSCs in breast cancer cell lines using aldehyde dehydrogenase and mammosphere assays under hypoxic (1% O2) and non-hypoxic (20% O2) culture conditions. Using this method, a significant enrichment of CSCs compared to bulk populations is observed when breast cancer cells are exposed to 1% O2 for 72 h.
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