Transitions from mono- to co- to tri-culture uniquely affect gene expression in breast cancer, stromal, and immune compartments.

Heterotypic interactions in cancer microenvironments play important roles in disease initiation, progression, and spread. Co-culture is the predominant approach used in dissecting paracrine interactions between tumor and stromal cells, but functional results from simple co-cultures frequently fail to correlate to in vivo conditions. Though complex heterotypic in vitro models have improved functional relevance, there is little systematic knowledge of how multi-culture parameters influence this recapitulation.