Differentiation of Mouse Breast Epithelial HC11 and EpH4 CellsMulu Geletu *1,2, Victoria Hoskin *1, Blerta Starova *1,3, Maximilian Niit 1,4, Hanad Adan 1, Bruce Elliott 1, Patrick Gunning 2, Leda Raptis 1
1Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences and Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, 2Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, University of Toronto, Mississauga, 3Department of Laboratory Medicine, Brampton Civic Hospital Campus, William Osler Health System, 4Latner Thoracic Surgery Research Laboratories
We describe techniques for differentiation induction of two breast epithelial lines, HC11 and EpH4. While both require fetal calf serum, insulin, and prolactin to produce milk proteins, EpH4 cells can fully differentiate into mammospheres in three-dimensional culture. These complementary models are useful for signal transduction studies of differentiation and neoplasia.
