[Growth factors of cultured epithelial cells of breast diseases and breast carcinoma].

Primary cultures of non-malignant human breast tissues, benign mastopathies and breast carcinomas were raised in defined culture conditions and characterized for in vitro cell proliferation. Although some mastopathies had estradiol receptors they did not respond to hormone treatment. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) was capable of stimulating the 3 types of primary culture. In contrast, dexamethasone, insulin and transferrin stimulated only the proliferation of some benign mastopathies and carcinoma cells. Cholera toxin increased the cell growth of normal tissues and mastopathies but not of carcinoma in primary cultures. Taken together, these results show that epithelial cells from mastopathies differ from one another; some are similar to non-malignant cells, whereas others are comparable to tumor cells.