Heterogeneity of vascular and progenitor cell compartments in tumours from MMTV-PyVmT transgenic mice during mammary cancer progression.

Transgenic mice are important tools for our study of breast cancer pathobiology. In order to evaluate changes in cell phenotype with breast cancer progression, we examined vascular and progenitor cell characteristics in tumours derived from MMTV-PyVmT mice. We performed dual-immunofluorescence staining for Tie2, pTie2Y1100, VEGFR2 and PDGFR-β and the pan-endothelial marker PECAM-1 (CD31) in 39 tumours from MMTV-PyVmT transgenic mice grouped by nuclear grade and tumour morphology.