Introduction

The epithelial cell line derived by a breast cancer patient (named BCAHC-1) is naturally immortalized and can be used for experimental research toward the evaluation of the role exerted by the estrogen receptor variant 46 kDa and the insulin receptor (IR) in breast tumor progression and in the pharmacological treatments.

Technical features

The breast cancer cell line named BCAHC-1 derives from a ductal mammary tumor. The cells have not undergone any process of immortalization, however they have maintained the ability to proliferate as a continuous cell line, presenting peculiar characteristics in the expression of hormone receptors: positivity for the expression of the isoform A of the insulin receptor (IR-A) and the 46 kDa variant of the estrogen receptor alpha, while the estrogen receptor beta, the progesterone receptor, the androgen receptor, the insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF-IR) and the receptors of the epidermal growth factor family are negative ErbB1, ErbB2 and ErbB3. Therefore, BCAHC-1 cells represent a new experimental model to be used in the assessment of the activity of anticancer drugs.

Possible Applications

• Assessment of experimental models based on BCAHC-1 cells;
• Identification of agonist/antagonist ligands of IR-A and ERalpha 46;
• Evaluation of the molecular mechanisms involved in the success/failure of anticancer drugs acting through IR-A e ERalpha 46 in breast cancer and other tumor types.

Advantages

• BCAHC-1 cells express only the insulin receptor isoform A (IR-A) and the 46 kDa variant of the estrogen receptor alpha as hormone receptors;
• The peculiar receptor expression content allows studies assessing the molecular mechanisms involved in the progression and drug-resistance of breast cancer.