Identification of the aromatase in the breast carcinoma cell lines T47D and MCF-7

The presence of estrogens in tumour cells is considered to be a critical factor for the development of the hormone-dependent forms of breast cancer. The last, rate-limiting step of estrogen biosynthesis is controlled by cytochrome P-450 type enzyme complex named aromatase. In the present study we determined and characterized the expression of aromatase mRNA in the breast carcinoma cell lines T47D and MCF-7. The expression was characterized by slot blot hybridization, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction technique and Northern hybridization analysis. Northern blotting revealed the presence of 4.4 kb and 2.4 kb messengers in both cell lines.