Figure 6: Knockdown of Dub3 inhibits tumour metastasis and recurrence of breast cancer in vivo.

(a) MDA-MB231-luc cells stably transfected with control, Dub3 shRNAs or Dub3-knockdown cells with Snail1 rescued expression were injected through tail vein into female SCID mice. Lung metastasis was assessed every week by bioluminescence imaging. Presented images are representative of each experimental group. (b) Normalized bioluminescence signals from lung metastasis in mice (n=6) as experiment outlined above. Data are presented as mean±s.e.m. (c) Representative images of lung lesions from experimental groups in a. (d) Graphic representation of lung weight and number of metastatic nodules from mice in experimental groups described in a. Data are presented as mean±s.e.m. (e) MDA-MB231 cells stably transduced with Dub3-inducible shRNA were treated with or without DOX. Expression of Snail1 and Dub3 were analysed by western blot. (f) Schematic diagram outlining the experimental metastasis model (left panel). Images are the representative H&E stained lung sections (middle panel) and quantification of lung weight (right panel) from these mice. (g) Schematic diagram outlining the spontaneous metastasis model (left panel). Graphic representation of recurrent tumour size (middle panel) and metastatic lung nodules from these mice (right panel). For (f,g) P values were determined by Student's t-test. Data are presented as mean±s.e.m.