Cytokeratins are exposed on the outer surface of established human mammary carcinoma cells.

Normal human mammary epithelial cells and established tumour cells of the same origin express three to eight cytokeratins, which are distributed throughout the cytoplasm in the form of intermediate filaments. The combined use of the iodogen and the two-dimensional gel electrophoresis methods has allowed us to demonstrate the presence of cytokeratins 8, 18 and 19 on the outer surface of established human mammary carcinoma cells, in particular MCF-7 cells, while they were absent from the surface of normal mammary cells in primary culture. By ultrastructural immunocytochemistry, these cytokeratins were localized on blebs formed by the cell surface. Cytokeratins 8, 18 and 19 were also detected in the culture medium of mammary carcinoma cells.