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Effects of transforming growth factor β on growth of human mammary epithelial cells in culture

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Summary

Normal human mammary epithelial cells (HMEC) from different individual reduction mammoplasty specimens were all growth inhibited, and showed a flattened, elongated morphology in response to human recombinant transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ). The degree of growth inhibition varied among specimens, but none of the normal HMEC maintained growth in the continued presence of TGFβ. The degree of growth inhibition also varied with cell age in vitro, cells closer to senescence being more sensitive. TGFβ sensitivity was additionally assayed in two established cell lines derived from one of the reduction mammoplasty specimens after exposure to benzo(a)pyrene. Although varying degrees of growth inhibition and morphologic changes were observed in the cell lines, both lines contained populations that maintained active growth in the presence of TGFβ. Subclones of these lines demonstrated a great plasticity in their growth response to TGFβ, with individual clones ranging from strongly growth inhibited to nearly unaffected. These results suggest that multiple factors influence the extent of TGFβ-induced growth effects on both normal and transformed mammary epithelial cells, and that some of these factors may act through epigenetic mechanisms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cell and Molecular Biology Division, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Building 934, 94720, Berkeley, California

    Midori Hosobuchi & Martha R. Stampfer

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  1. Midori Hosobuchi
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  2. Martha R. Stampfer
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Additional information

This work was supported by CA24844 from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, and the Office of Energy Research, Office of Health and Environmental Research of the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC03-76SF00098.

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Hosobuchi, M., Stampfer, M.R. Effects of transforming growth factor β on growth of human mammary epithelial cells in culture. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol 25, 705–713 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02623723

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