Characterization of macrophage - cancer cell crosstalk in estrogen receptor positive and triple-negative breast cancer

We performed whole transcriptome sequencing of human monocytes that were co-cultured with estrogen receptor positive (ER+) or triple-negative (TNBC) breast cancer cell lines and studied the biological responses related to the differential gene activation in both cell types to understand how different cancer cells educate host cells to support tumor growth Overall design: To characterize the differences in macrophage activation under the influence of either ER+ or TNBC breast cancer cells, we cultured freshly isolated human peripheral monocytes with two breast cancer cell lines (T47D, ER+ and MDA-MB-231, TNBC) in an in vitro transwell co-culture assay. The transwell setting allowed us to investigate the effect of soluble mediators on macrophage activation since direct cell contact of these cells was inhibited by a (PET) membrane (pore size 0.4 µm).