MCF-7 cell line was first derived from a pleural effusion of a post menopausal 69 years patient with metastatic breast cancer in 1970 (Rebecca et. al., 2003). The MCF-7 cell line is the most widely used and best characterized of all the human breast cancer cell lines (Dino et. al., 2007).
I have described to you about cancer cell lines in my previous post HepG2 Cell Line. You may read through it to get the idea of cancer cell lines.
MCF-7 – Breast Cancer Cell Line
MCF-7 cell line is the first hormone-responsive breast cancer cell line (Amanda et. al., 2003). It also has differential sensitivities to estrogens and anti-estrogens, differential expression of estrogens receptor (ER), ER mRNA, and progesterone receptor, and differences in tumorigenicity and proliferation rates (Matthew et. al., 2003). Clinical studies have shown that therapeutic agents preventing the synthesis and activity of estrogens are essential in the breast cancer treatment. The addition of extradiol which is one of the fractions of estrogen to the medium of MCF-7 cells induces a proliferative response (Irene et. al., 2003). The characteristics of MCF-7 cells like the estradiol-dependence for growth and low metastatic potential has led to the assumption that they represent an early epithelial adenocarcinoma of breast (John et. al., 1995).
MCF-7 cell line are perfect model to study the pathway of malignant progression as they can be subjected to appropriate endocrinologic and physiologic selective pressures for the derivation of variants with more progressed phenotypes (Hans et. al., 2007).
It has been shown to possess the ability to go through DNA fragmentation. There are apoptotic responses of MCF-7 cell line to the apoptosis-inducing agents like tumour necrosis factor and anti-Fas antibody. The MCF-7 cells are also an excellent in vitro model for studying the mechanisms of chemo-resistance because of its susceptibility to apoptosis (Richard et. al., 2003).
In conclusion, MCF-7 cell line is another useful cell line that can be used in various cancer research especially in breast cancer research. I also used it in my final year project. 
This is a part of literature review of my final year project thesis. I wish to share with you all what i have done.
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hello sir,
i m a M.pharm student also doing the same topic on cancer..
i really got many knowledge from ur article
Really Seema? What topic you are doing now? I hope that i can really help you on this.
hi,
i am doing my final year project on mcf7 and vitamin E succinate and ur articles helped me a lot. can u give pls tell me why mcf7 is better then other breast cancer cell?? major differences and what is the difference between cytotoxicity and cell viability???
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