Fig. 7.
Effect of SFRP1 on estrogen-induced expression of progesterone receptor (PR) in breast explant cultures. Normal breast tissues from women undergoing reduction mammoplasty were placed in culture and treated with vehicle, 17β-estradiol (E2) or E2 together with rSFRP1 (E2 + SFRP1). Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect cells expressing PR (brown chromogen). (a) Representative images from Subject 435 were captured at 400 × images for staining in ducts and lobule for one patient. (b) PR-stained cells were counted in each treatment group for 5 different subjects and the fold change in PR-positive cells is shown for each patient. Responses to E2 varied among individuals but SFRP1 diminished the effect of E2 in each case (E2 vs E2 +rSFRP1, p <0.01)