Interaction of estradiol and high density lipoproteins on proliferation of the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 adapted to grow in serum free conditions.

The responsiveness of the human mammary carcinoma cell line MCF-7 to estradiol and tamoxifen treatment has been studied in different culture conditions. Cells from exponentially growing cultures were compared with cells in their initial cycles after replating from confluent cultures ("confluent-log" cells). It has been observed that estradiol stimulation of tritiated thymidine incorporation decreases with cell density and that "confluent-log" cells are estrogen unresponsive for a period of four cell cycles in serum-free medium conditions. On the other hand, growth of cells replated from exponentially growing, as well as from confluent cultures, can be inhibited by tamoxifen or a combined treatment with tamoxifen and the progestin levonorgestrel. This growth inhibitory effect can be rescued by estradiol when cells are replated from exponentially growing cultures. The growth inhibitory effect cannot be rescued by estradiol alone (10(-10) to 10(-8) M) when cells are replated from confluent cultures. In this condition, the addition of steroid depleted serum is necessary to reverse the state of estradiol unresponsiveness. Serum can be replaced by high density lipoproteins but not by low density lipoproteins or lipoprotein deficient serum. The present data show that estradiol and HDL interact in the control of MCF-7 cell proliferation.