Is Nuclear Structure Altered in Breast Cancer Cells
Abstract
To explore whether changes in nuclear architecture exist between normal and breast cancer cells, several nuclear markers were examined for their potential to reveal changes in nuclear architecture in normal human mammary epithelial cell (HMEC; prestasis 48R), altered but non-malignant HMEC (48RS, 184, and 184B5), and breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231). Immunofluorescence with anti-estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) antibodies detected the presence of ERalpha in MCF-7 cells but not MDA-MB-231 cells and low level of ERalpha is present in a pre-stasis HMEC line (48R) but not in other HMEC lines (48RS, 184, and 184B5). Examination of the distribution of RNA polymerase II "transcription factories" with an antibody directed at the hyperphosphorylated C-terminal tail of the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II showed greater nucleoplasmic staining over cytoplasmic staining in MCF-7 cells than in MDA-MB-231 cells, and qualitatively, our preliminary results suggest that a larger fraction of the large subunit of RNA pol II to be in transcription factories in the case of MCF-7 than MDA-MB-231 or HMEC lines (48R, 48RS, 184 and 184B5). Lastly, when bulk chromatin as well as specific chromosomes were assessed by staining with DAPI and chromosome paints (chromosome 1, 3, 18, and 19), respectively, the different cell lines failed to show any striking differences. Quantitative assessment of the transcription factories, chromosome locations, and DAPI stained nuclei needs to be performed to determine the degree to which nuclear structure is altered in breast cancer cells.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA542317
Entities
People
- Han Htun
Organizations
- University of California, Los Angeles