Epithelial membrane polarity: a stable, differentiated feature of an established human breast carcinoma cell line...

Carcinoma cells typically show little or no polarity as compared to normal, differentiated epithelial cells. We have studied polarity in two established human breast carcinoma cell lines, T47D and MCF-7, by various techniques (electron microscopic enzyme- and immunocytochemistry, freeze-fracture) and show that one of them (MCF-7) is characterized by a high degree of polarity. Thus, in contrast to T47D cells, MCF-7 cells in monolayer culture form apical tight junctions, do not allow a ricin-horseradish peroxidase conjugate, which binds to terminal galactose residues on the apical surface, to stain the basolateral membrane domain, and express a surface antigen (MFGM-A) only in the apical surface membrane domain, as do normal mammary epithelial cells in vivo. This polarization is independent of a basement membrane, since it is maintained when MCF-7 cells, which do not deposit type IV collagen themselves, are grown directly on plastic. Moreover, even though MCF-7 cells express estrogen receptors rather homogeneously, estrogen has no effect on this polarity, neither in vitro nor after transplantation to nude mice. We conclude that polarity is a stable, differentiated feature of MCF-7 cells.