RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Basal/human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER)2-positive (HER2+) breast cancer is resistant to monoclonal antibody (herceptin) treatment. There are currently only three basal/HER2+ breast cancer cell lines available, but they are not from Chinese populations. METHODS: Three immortalized cell lines (ZJU-0327, ZJU-0725, and ZJU-1127) were established from invasive ductal breast carcinoma tissue of two patients treated by surgical resection at our center. The cell lines were characterized in terms of histology, therapeutic response, and biomarker expression. Their tumorigenic potential was evaluated in an athymic nude (BALB/C nu) mouse xenograft model. Cell authentication testing by the techniques of short tandem repeat. RESULTS: ZJU-0327, ZJU-0725, and ZJU-1127 cell lines were maintained for more than 110 passages in vitro. The cells grew as monolayers; showed typical epithelial morphology and ultrastructure; were polyploid; had doubling times of 18, 57.5, and 18 h, respectively; had a near-tetraploid (ZJU-0327 and ZJU-1127) or aneuploid (ZJU-0725) karyotype with structural aberrations and tumor protein 53 mutation; insensitive to chemotherapeutic drugs and/or radiation; show high invasiveness and tumorigenicity in mice; and had no mycoplasma contamination. The cell lines were basal/HER2+, expressed cluster of differentiation, and were associated with poor prognosis. Cell authentication testing by the American Type Culture Collection confirmed the human origin of the cell lines, which did not match those in existing databases. CONCLUSIONS: The three novel basal/HER2+ breast cancer cell lines recapitulating the malignant characteristics of the parent tumor's, and can be useful for clarifying the molecular pathogenesis of basal/HER2+ breast cancer.