Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. It is highly heterogeneous with distinct breast cancer types and subtypes, posing challenges for diagnosis and treatment. Invasive ductal carcinoma is the most common type of breast cancer and subtypes are commonly grouped into four categories based on the expression of hormone receptors: oestrogen receptor positive (ER+), progesterone receptor positive (PR+), human epidermal growth factor receptor positive (HER2+), and triple-negative (TNBC), which is characterised by the lack of expression of any of the above receptors. TNBC is the most challenging breast cancer type as it does not respond to any hormonal therapies.
There is a need for breast cancer models that capture its heterogeneity to uncover novel disease mechanisms underlying its complexity and for more precise drug development.
At CancerTools.org, we have curated an extensive collection of breast cancer research tools, deposited by scientists from academic universities and leading cancer centres over 40 years. This includes a diverse array of breast cancer cell lines for improved disease modelling, more complex in vivo patient derived xenograft (PDX) and mouse models to enhance preclinical drug discovery workflows, as well as widely used antibodies to study tumour signalling pathways.
Explore our breast cancer research tools collection
Disease modelling
CancerTools provides diverse breast cancer cell lines to accurately model the tumour-microenvironment, metastases, and treatment resistance, to aid scientists uncover new pathways and develop improved in vitro models of breast cancer.
Anti-oestrogen resistant MCF7 and T47D cell lines
These have been derived from human breast cancer cell lines, MCF7 and T47D which depend on oestrogen for growth and demonstrate resistance to hormone-dependent breast cancer treatments. These anti-oestrogen resistant lines, including the MCF7/TAMR-1 cell line, allow researchers to better understand the underlying molecular mechanisms of resistance.
NCI-HPN-F cell lines with chromosomal abnormalities
Derived from mouse mammary glands, NCI-HPN-F cell lines demonstrate recurrent chromosomal aneuploidies enabling investigation and identification of tumourigenesis–related cancer-specific genes and signalling pathways.
Immortalised SV40 human breast epithelial cell lines
Immortalised using SV40, human breast epithelial cell lines are models to study differentiation and phenotypic transformation.
Gene-edited MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines
Gene-edited MCF7 sgRNA 1 u0026 2 and MDA-MB-231 sgRNA 1 u0026 2 cell lines enable the investigation of the breast BRCA1 non mutated and hypermethylated breast cancer tumourigenesis pathways. Both cell lines contain site-specific methylations in the BRCA1 promoter.
Plasmax™: a physiologically relevant cell culture medium
Plasmax is a defined cell culture medium that provides a physiologically relevant environment by mirroring the concentration of over 50 components found in human plasma. This media been used to successfully culture three triple-negative breast cancer cell lines, BT549, MDA-MB-468 and CAL-120, by recapitulating the tumour metabolic environment.
Drug discovery
CancerTools.org provides anti-oestrogen resistant cell lines, patient-derived organoid (PDO) and patient-derived xenograft (PDXs) breast cancer models that capture tumour heterogeneity and are clinically relevant, to enhance breast cancer drug discovery.
Anti-oestrogen resistant MCF7 and T47D cell lines
These anti-oestrogen resistant cell lines, as described earlier, offer the potential for developing novel predictive biomarkers for therapy response and an improved understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms of resistance, supporting new drug discovery.
Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models
PDX models are created by transplanting human tumour tissue into immunodeficient mice. Our collection of breast cancer PDX models includes those from patients affected by the most advanced and lethal forms of breast cancer, such as aggressive, metastatic and treatment resistant subtypes. PDX models are superior in recapitulating patient tumour characteristics including spatial structure, intratumour heterogeneity, genomic features, tumour growth rates, metastatic patterns and drug responses. These highly translatable models can be used to enhance and de-risk preclinical in vivo drug validation.
MUC1 mouse model
Tumour associated antigen, MUC1 is aberrantly overexpressed in 90% of human breast cancers and represents a promising therapeutic target for breast cancer. Our MUC1 mouse model can be used for the preclinical study of anti-MUC1 vaccines/immunotherapies.
Tumour signalling
CancerTools.org provides widely used antibodies for targets with key functions in tumour signalling pathways including tumour suppressors (p53, RB1), oncogenes (c-MYC), and tumour associated antigens (MUC1).
Tumour suppressors
Antibodies targeting p53, Retinoblastoma 1 (RB1), and Maspin, all tumour suppressors with key roles in biological processes across different types of tumours including breast cancer tumours. Our collection also features antibodies against PALB2 and BRCA1/2, both tumour suppressors whose pathogenic variants are associated with breast cancer, as well as ovarian and pancreatic cancers.
Oncogenes
Multiple antibodies targeting the oncogene, c-MYC, a transcription factor of high interest in breast cancer research due to its regulation of key biological processes in the tumour microenvironment, e.g. angiogenesis, tumour evasion, invasion, and migration
Tumour associated antigens
Antibodies targeting tumour associated antigens like MUC1, a promising marker for breast cancer diagnosis and prognosis.
