E0771 is a mouse breast adenocarcinoma cell line. The original source of E0771 cells was a
spontaneously occurring breast tumor from C57BL/6 mouse [1]. The tumor was removed from
the breast fat pad of the mouse and adapted for anti‐cancer drug testing by Sirotnak et al. in
1984 [2]. Cell culture conditions as described in Ewens et al. [3] allow for the maintenance of
E0771 cells as a monolayer.
There are many advantages to using this cell line to study the biology of breast cancer. These
cells evade immuno-surveillance and are aggressive in their infection. This makes it possible for
the cells to thrive even if test mice have active thymuses and T-cell differentiation. For this
reason, E0771 cells consistently and reliably create tumors in brown and black mice. No need to
purchase expensive nude mice for experiments! The E0771 strain is also highly metastatic,
meaning that the cancer will frequently travel to infect other parts of the body.
-Written by Nicole Cavanaugh
Works Cited
1. Sugiura, K. and Stock, C. C. (1952). Comparison of the Action of MethylBis(2-
chloroethyl)amine and 3 -Bis(2-chloro ethyl)aminomethyl-4-methoxymethyl-5-hydroxy- 6-
methylpyridine on the Growth of a Variety of Mouse and Rat Tumors. Cancer, 5(2).
2. Sirotnak, F. M. et al. (1984). New folate analogs of the 10-deaza-aminopterin series.
Further evidence for markedly increased antitumor efficacy compared with methotrexate
in ascitic and solid murine tumor models. Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology,
12(1).
3. Ewens, A., Mihich, E., & Ehrke, M. J. (2005). Distant metastasis from subcutaneously
grown E0771 medullary breast adenocarcinoma [Abstract]. Anticancer Research,
25(6B).