High Density Culture of Immuno-Magnetically Separated Human Mammary Luminal Cells

Abstract

When the two epithelial cell types of the human breast, myoepithelial and luminal, are grown together in vitro, the myoepithelial cells come to dominate cultures because of their greater proliferative potential. However, it is the luminal cells which are of interest in many studies since they are the source of most breast cancers. In order to study luminal cells in culture, the two cell types must be separated. This has previously been achieved using flow cytometry (O&3x2019;Hare et al., 1991) with numbers limited to about 10⁵ cells of each type. For the current study of differentiation of luminal cells, large numbers of cells were required and an immunomagnetic separation technique was developed using the MACS system (Miltenyi et al., 1990; Clarke et al., 1994). Such purified populations of luminal cells have been grown on various substrates at high density, and their structural differentiation examined by light and electron microscopy.