Fig. 4

TBX3iso1 overexpression leads to increased HAS2 levels and pericellular hyaluronan retention. a Expression of HAS2 mRNA levels in 21PT, 21NT, and MCF7 transfectant cell lines was assessed by qRT-PCR, normalized to GAPDH expression levels, and depicted as fold changes relative to the empty vector control. b, c Particle exclusion experiment for visualization of pericellular matrices. Cells were pretreated in the presence or absence of hyaluronidase for 20 min, followed by removal of media and addition of fixed sheep erythrocytes. Pericellular matrix area was calculated by tracing around cell coats (matrices) and cell areas across 30 randomly selected cells. A ratio of 1.0 indicated the absence of a pericellular matrix for a particular cell. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 by one-way ANOVA with Tukey post-hoc for comparison between three or more groups. Error bars represent standard deviation