FIGURE 3.

DHCR24 promotes the growth of breast CSC‐like population. A, B, DHCR24 promotes mammosphere growth of breast cancer cells. BT474 and AU565 expressing csh or DHCR24 shRNAs (sh11 and sh12) (A), BT474, SUM149PT and MCF7 expressing vector only or exogenous DHCR24 (B) plated in triplicate wells were subjected to mammosphere formation assay as described in the method section. Mammospheres with diameter＞50 μm were counted from 6 random fields under 4x magnification objective lens, and the average number of mammospheres per well was shown. Scale bars, 50 μm. C, D, DHCR24 increases the ALDH⁺ cell population in breast cancer cells. BT474 cells expressing csh or DHCR24 shRNAs (sh11 and sh12) (C) and MCF7 cells expressing vector alone or DHCR24 were pre‐treated without (−) or with (+) ALDH inhibitor DEAB. ALDH⁺ cell population was analyzed by flow cytometry analysis using the ALDEFLUOR assay kit. *P < .05, **P < .01, ***P < .001, two‐tailed Student T test. Data shown are representative from 3 independent experiments