Unmasking epithelial-mesenchymal transition in a breast cancer primary culture: a study report

Luigi Minafra, Rossana Norata, Valentina Bravatà, Massimo Viola, Carmelo Lupo, Cecilia Gelfi, Cristina Messa

Immortalized cancer cell lines are now well-established procedures in biomedicine for a more complete understanding of cellular processes in cancer. However, they are more useful in preparation of fresh tumour tissue, in order to obtain cancer cells with highly preserved individual tumour properties. In the present study we report an analytical investigation on a breast cancer primary cell culture isolated from a surgical specimen obtained from a patient with an infiltrating ductal carcinoma. The objective of the research was to reveal unrecognized aspects of neoplastic cells, typical of the tumour from where the cells were derived, but masked in fixed tissue sections, in order to better predict the aggressive potentiality of the tumour.