Figure 2.

Breast cancer cells establish direct contact with adipocytes during colonization of the bone marrow compartment when co-cultured with cancellous human bone tissue fragments. (A) Fluorescence image of a cancellous bone tissue fragment seeded with MCF-7-fLuc-EGFP cells (green arrow) shown in direct contact with adipocytes (white arrow) at 24 hours. (B) Post co-culture immunohistochemical staining with AE1/3 anti-cytokeratin antibody detecting MCF-7-fLuc-EFGP cell colonization (green arrow) adjacent to adipocytes (white arrow). (C) Confocal microscopy of co-cultures at 48 hours following staining with Oil Red to define adipocytes (white arrow) and Osteosense 680 to define bone spicules (red arrow). A video of the image in panel (C) is provided in Supplementary Data Video 1. (D) MCF-7-fLuc-EGFP cells (green arrow) are shown in direct contact with adipocyte (white arrow).