REAL-TIME MONITORING OF ESTROGEN-REGULATED GENE-EXPRESSION IN SINGLE,LIVING BREAST-CANCER CELLS - A NEW PARADIGM FOR THE STUDY OF MOLECULAR-DYNAMICS

Elucidation of the molecular mechanisms underlying the development and progression of breast cancer has been hindered by two considerations, First, mammary tumor cells exhibit a considerable degree of morpholog ical and functional heterogeneity, Thus, the conventional strategy of measuring a population response may not provide an accurate reflection of the behavior of the functional unit: an individual cell. Second, i mportant regulatory events are generally separated in time, yet the st rategies we use to monitor them are usually static as opposed to dynam ic, With these considerations in mind, it would appear that a system f or studying this problem should ideally combine the resolving power of single-cell analysis with a dynamic paradigm for making multiple meas urements of gene expression from the same, living cell, This report su mmarizes our efforts at developing, validating, and optimizing such a system for monitoring hormone-driven gene expression in T47-D human br east cancer cells.