tcel151 MDA-MB-435S

This cell line was originally described as a spindle shaped variant of the parental MDA-MB-435 strain isolated in 1976 by R. Cailleau, et al. from the pleural effusion of a 31 year old female with metastatic, ductal adenocarcinoma of the breast. However, recent studies have generated questions about the origin of the parent cell line, MDA-MB-435, and by extension HTB-129. Gene expression analysis of the cells produced microarrays in which MDA-MB-435 clustered with cell lines of melanoma origin instead of breast. Additional studies have since corroborated a melanocyte origin of MDA-MB-435, to which ATCC has responded by pursuing its own investigation into the identity of this cell line. The cell line to which MDA-MB-435 is reported to have been cross-contaminated with is the M14 melanoma line.