Fig 2

Changes in cell viability of breast cancer cells following co-culture with M1 or M2 macrophages. a M2 macrophages may confer a growth advantage to MCF-7 cells. A Phase contrast imaging with a fluorescence overlay (Red MCF-7 cells) are representative images on Day 1, Day 3 and Day 5 across 5 conditions. (Bar = 100 μm). MCF-7 cells co-cultured with M0, M1 or M2 macrophages in serum-free hepatocyte maintenance medium (HMM), MCF-7 cells mono-cultured in serum-free HMM as the negative control, mono-cultured MCF-7 in their normal growth medium (RPMI 1640 with 10 % serum) as the positive control. **, P <0.01. b M1 macrophages may inhibit a growth advantage of MDA-MB-231 cells by microscope on days 5. A Phase contrast imaging with a fluorescence overlay (Red MDA-MB-231 cells) are representative images on Day 1, Day 3 and Day 5 across 5 conditions. (Bar = 100 μm). *, P <0.05. **, P <0.01. For both (a) and (b), images are representative of three independent experiments each in triplicate