Endothelial Protein C Receptor Function in Murine and Human Breast Cancer Development
Figure 3
EPCR+ MDA-MB-231 mfp cells have stem cell-like properties.
A EPCR+ and EPCR− subpopulations isolated based on the gates in Fig. 1A were seeded at 104 cells/well and grown in mammosphere medium for 10 days. Growth was quantified by cell counting B MDA-MB-231 mfp cells were sorted based on EPCR. Sorted EPCR+ and EPCR− cells, as well as parental cells were cultured for 3 days, harvested and stained with the ALDH kit with DEAB addition as a specificity control, and analyzed by FACS. EPCR+ cells had higher ALDH activity than EPCR− or parental cells. At the time of analysis, the parental populations had 8% EPCR+ cells. The experiment was repeated with the same outcome. C Tumor cells were isolated from freshly harvested tumors and immediately analyzed by FACS for TF and EPCR. A representative FACS profile and quantification for 12 EPCR+ cell-derived tumors and 4 EPCR− cell-derived tumors are shown (mean±SD).