MCF-7 is a breast cancer cell line isolated in 1970 from a 69-year-old White woman.[1] MCF-7 is the acronym of Michigan Cancer Foundation-7, referring to the institute in Detroit where the cell line was established in 1973 by Herbert Soule and co-workers.[2] The Michigan Cancer Foundation is now known as the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute.[3]
Prior to MCF-7, it was not possible for cancer researchers to obtain a mammary cell line that was capable of living longer than a few months.[4]
The patient, Frances Mallon died in 1970. Her cells were the source of much of current knowledge about breast cancer.[2][5] At the time of sampling, she was a nun in the convent of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Monroe, Michigan under the name of Sister Catherine Frances.
MCF-7 and two other breast cancer cell lines, named T-47D and MDA-MB-231, account for more than two-thirds of all abstracts reporting studies on mentioned breast cancer cell lines, as concluded from a Medline-based survey.[6]
^Glodek, Cass, Ph.D., "A History of the Michigan Cancer Foundation, the Beginnings & Growth of Detroit's Anticancer Movement," 1990, page 68, Michigan Cancer Foundation, Detroit.
^Levenson, AS; Jordan VC. (1997). "MCF-7: the first hormone-responsive breast cancer cell line". Cancer Research. 57 (15): 3071–3078. PMID9242427.