Fig. 3: TFF3 promotes migration, invasion, and proliferation via PTGS2.

a Heatmap of differentially expressed proteins in control (C1–C2), TFF3-treated (T1–T3), and TFF3-overexpressing (O1–O3) HCT-8 cells. b–c Western blotting analyses of PTGS2 expression in SW480 cells treated with increasing amounts of TFF3 for 48 h (b) or following increasing periods of TFF3 treatment (c). d–e Western blotting analyses of PTGS2 expression in HCT-8 CD147KO cells treated with increasing amounts of TFF3 for 48 h (d) or following increasing periods of TFF3 treatment (e). Graphs in b–e show semi-quantitative analyses of relative PTGS2 expression. f Quantification of cell migration ability of HCT-8 cells treated with 0.152 μM of TFF3 alone or in combination with either siPTGS2 transfection or the PTGS2 inhibitor etoricoxib. g Representative images of HCT-8 cells invading through matrigel-coated transwell inserts toward serum for 24 h. Cells were treated with 0.152 μM of TFF3 alone or in combination with either siPTGS2 transfection or the PTGS2 inhibitor etoricoxib. Scale bar, 50 μm. The graph shows the average number of invaded cells per field. The p-values in (b–g) were determined by using a two-tailed Student’s t-test. h Proliferation curve of HCT116 cells determined by CCK-8 assay. Cells were treated with 0.152 μM of TFF3 alone or in combination with either siPTGS2 transfection or the PTGS2 inhibitor etoricoxib. Significance relative to the TFF3 treatment group was determined by using a two-tailed Student’s t-test (*p < 0.05). i Flow cytometry analysis of cell cycle progression in HCT-8 cells treated with 0.152 μM of TFF3 alone or in combination with either siPTGS2 transfection or the PTGS2 inhibitor etoricoxib