Mdmb231 cells are more invasive in nature. Relatively mcf7, t47 cells are less invasive

Invasive (also called infiltrating) ductal carcinoma cells are the most invasive.

Invasive (also called infiltrating) lobular carcinoma cells are least invasive.

 Invasive (also called infiltrating) ductal carcinoma cells are the most invasive.

Invasive (also called infiltrating) lobular carcinoma cells are least invasive. 

I use MDA-MB-231 routinely and they are invasive and good to work with.

To some degree it depends how you choose to define invasion  (experimental or clinical) and why you ask. Most breast cancer cell lines will show some invasive activity in a typical in vitro assay, e.g., Boyden chamber with a matrigel barrier. Even MCF-7 and T47D cells will show this activity quite readily yet these cells only occasionally show significant local invasion when grown as xenografts in immune deficient mice. Using an in vitro assay alone to measure invasion tends to be an overly sensitive measure.

MDA-MB-231 cells (as nicely noted by others) are quite invasive both in vitro and in vivo, and can exhibit metastatic dissemination when grown as orthotopic tumors (inoculated into the mammary fat pad).

Local invasion is a key marker of behavior clinically. The inability to degrade basement membrane and to remain encapsulated is a hallmark of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and other benign breast lesions, e.g., ductal hyperplasia. Malignant breast lesions are generally defined by their ability to invade locally; many also can spread elsewhere (metastasize).

Probably, you can have a look the paper of Perou et al. (Nature,V.406, 2000, p.747) and other papers about molecular classification of breast cancer.

Dear scientists

I really appreciate all the comments, suggestions and feedback.

Sudip Mukherjee, Chithan C Kandaswami, Kyle B Matchett, Jingkun Wang and Robert Clarke, Thank you so much for your advices and suggestions . Your advices, comments and suggestions really enhanced my scientific knowledge levels.

Thank you Vera B Dugina, although your suggested paper was about human breast tumours but it was interesting for me.

Jingkun Wang, again, I thank you for your two attached articles which were so useful. Let me suggest others to read these articles.

Right now, I'm going to do a research project in which breast cancer cells will be modeled in mice. In the first day of our project which will take 8-12 week, I want to use breast cancer cell line which have a good response and doesn’t kill the mice before the completion of the project. Hence, I would like to you that guide me. Which of them is appropriate for our project? And which of them is the best for our project? 4T1, MC4-L2, MCF-7,T47D, MDA-MB-231 or BT549 or others?

Are you going to use nude mice model? In that case, you can use human cancer cell lines (MCF-7, T47, BT).

Dear  Vera

Thanks for your advice. I'm going to use Inbred (BALB/c) mice model. I know that researcher use 4T1 and MC4-L2 and also know MC4-L2 is less invasive than 4T1. So, I would like to know, except the mentioned cancer cell lines, other cells which are more appropriate (for 8-12 weeks) exist for use? If so, Which kind of them is more appropriate than others for our project?

Try to check ref ( Lanari C. et al., Five novel hormone-responsive cell lines derived from murine mammary ductal carcinomas: in vivo and in vitro effects of estrogens and progestins. Cancer Res. 2001 Jan 1;61(1):293-302.) andd other papers connected with this one. Probably you will find something useful.

Hello Vera, thanks for your good suggested paper which will be useful for me.

Lanari C et al (2001) showed MC4-L2 and MC7-L1 were more aggressive as compared with the MC4-L1, MC4-L3, and MC4-L5, when transplanted into syngeneic animals. So, probably MC4-L2 and MC7-L1 have more aggressive feature than others when transplanted into syngeneic animals.

Here, I would like to know: which ones of the breast cancer cell lines will be more useful (size and growth tumor and other responses) for our condition (8 – 12 weeks) when I will inject cell lines in BALB/c mice? With regard to the fact that the animals do not die due to metastasis in during our study! Is there an answer to my question or needs to further researches …. What do you think?

I think you have to try to inject several cell lines and in different concentration, so that to understand, which cell lines are useful for your research. 

You invite me to do a new study ! That’s great idea, why not ! But I think that I have to search a lot in this area. If conducted studies does not answer my questions, then I should do your idea. Shouldn’t it? Does anyone have a new idea or experience in the mentioned problem?

Any marker that indicates a stronger activation of the Epithelial Mesenchimal Transition would add to identification of tumor Cells with the higher invasive activity, although markers of Stem Cell lineage, such as CD-133, replicative activity such as Ki-67, or activity of Matrix Metalloproteinases exist, other markers may be considered too, for example, UPA and PAI1 being Fybrin Degradation Products, its presence in a high amount may point to damages to endothelial vessels walls triggering IntraVacular Coagulation, possibly due in the case of invasive tumors, to the changes in vessel's walls produced by Tumor Cells in its phase of Intravasation. 

Cancer Res. 2012 Oct 1;72(19):4899-908. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-12-0903.

Interstitial fluid pressure and associated lymph node metastasis revealed in

tumors by dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI.

Hompland T(1), Ellingsen C, Øvrebø KM, Rofstad EK.

Author information:

(1)Group of Radiation Biology and Tumor Physiology, Department of Radiation Biology,

Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.

Elevated interstitial fluid pressure (IFP) in tumors can cause metastatic

dissemination and treatment resistance, but its study poses a challenge because

of a paucity of noninvasive imaging strategies. In this study, we address this

issue by reporting the development of a noninvasive tool to assess tumor IFP and

interstitial hypertension-induced lymph node metastasis. Using mouse xenograft

models of several types of human cancer, we used gadolinium diethylene-triamine

penta-acetic acid (Gd-DTPA) as a contrast agent for dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI

(DCE-MRI). Immediately after Gd-DTPA administration, a high-signal-intensity rim

was observed in the tumor periphery, which moved outward with time. Assuming the

velocity of Gd-DTPA to be equal to the fluid flow velocity, we used a simple

model of peritumoral interstitial fluid flow to calculate the fluid flow velocity

at the tumor surface (v(0)) based on the rim movement. Significant positive

correlations were found between v(0) and IFP in all tumor xenografts. Moreover,

the primary tumors of metastasis-positive mice displayed higher IFP and v(0) than

the primary tumors of metastasis-negative mice. Findings were confirmed in

cervical cancer patients with pelvic lymph node metastases, where we found v(0)

to be higher compared with patients without lymph node involvement (P < 0.00001).

Together, these findings establish that Gd-DTPA-based DCE-MRI can noninvasively

visualize tumor IFP, and they reveal the potential for v(0) determined by this

method to serve as a novel general biomarker of tumor aggressiveness.

©2012 AACR.

PMID: 23027087 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Dear Mahnoud,

We anlyzed the invasiveness of more than 20 commercially available breast cancer cell lines and determined the expression of several genes of them. Please find the results in the attached file. We repeat the experiments from time to time. The phenotype and genotype are quite stable. Hope this can help.

Best regards,

Dan

Great article this one from D C Castillo-Tong et al

The value of good things lasts. Salut †  

I guess the article by E Lee et al, in Nat Communications, 2014 sep 2:

'Breast Cancer cells condition lymphatic endothelial cells within pre-metastatc niches to promote metastasis', PMID 25178650 is connected to the field of your interest. Salut †