The use of a secreted embryonic alkaline phosphatase-based reporter plasmid assay and electrophoretic mobility shift assays to investigate differences in signal transduction between a chemosensitive cell line (MCF-7) and two chemoresistant cell lines (MCF

Resistance to chemotherapy drugs is a major hurdle in the treatment of cancer. In this study, three isogenic cell lines were employed to investigate the differences in how signal transduction pathways in breast cancer cells and chemoresistant breast cancer cell lines react to the addition of various drugs. There are numerous methods to study signal transduction. This study utilizes a Secreted Embryonic Alkaline Phosphatase (SEAP based reporter plasmid assay and an Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay (EMSA) to investigate the differences in signal transduction pathways between a chemosensitive breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) and two chemoresistant derivatives (MCF-7TAX and MCF-7DOX). The use of SEAP as the reporter protein required that the cells transfected with the reporter plasmids be incubated in the absence of serum. This had an unforeseen effect on the results of the experiments, namely, that signal transduction resulting from the serum starvation obscured the signaling in the cells due to the various treatments. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...