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. 2010 Aug 16;5(8):e12180. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0012180

Figure 2. MSC increase mammosphere formation in breast cancer stem cells.

Figure 2

Number of mammospheres formed/40,000 cells plated in low density suspension cultures increased with an increasing percentage of MSC (*p<0.001 as compared to no MSC control) for breast cancer cell lines SUM149 (A), MCF-7 (B) and MDA-IBC-3 (C). MSC formed spheroids under mammosphere culture conditions (D). Low-magnification image of MCF-7 (GFP+) mammospheres demonstrating integrated red-fluorescent protein expressing MSC (E). MCF-7 mammospheres 5 and 10 days after plating with and without co-plated MSC (0, 2, 5 and 10% MSC) (F). MCF-7 mammosphere formation is shown one day after plating with 10% stroma cells; MSC (human bone marrow-derived MSC), Fb (human CD16 normal human lung fibroblasts) and OSC (human omental derived adipocyte stem cells) (G) (*p<0.05 as compared to no MSC control).