Walker M. Blanding, Jessica A. Feltracco, Sonia M. Rosenfield, Jang Pyo Park, Gilbert H. Smith and Brian W. Booth*

Normal tissues and tumors arise from a population of cells termed stem cells. In vivo experiments have provided evidence of the presence of stem cells throughout the mouse mammary gland. Premalignant mammary outgrowths that faithfully recapitulate the mammary epithelial cell lineage upon transplantation contain cells with tumor-forming potential. Cell sorting techniques have identified putative mouse mammary stem cell surface markers and human breast cancer stem cell surface markers. These markers do not identify only stem cells but in fact distinguish a mixed population of cells containing stem cell activity. Previous studies have demonstrated that clones arising from single cells in vitro can be categorized into three types based on the clone morphology. Here, we report the characterization, both in vitro and in vivo, of clonogenic cells from a non-tumorigenic mammary epithelial population and those from an erbB2-induced mammary tumor. We found that clones arising from normal mammary cells expressed different patterns of stem and developmental marker between the clone types and compared to the expression patterns observed on clones that developed from tumorigenic mammary cells.

Cite this Article: Blandinga WM, Feltraccoa JA, Rosenfieldb SM, Park JP. Characterization in Vitro and in Vivo of Clonogenic Cells from Heterogeneous Cell Populations. SRL Stem Cell Res. 2015;1(1): 001-009.

Published: 31 December 2015