Fig. 7: BECN1 downregulation promotes CRC metastasis in vivo.

a Nude mice were intravenously injected via the tail vein with HCT116 cells expressing negative control negative ShRNA, ShRNA-BECN1#1, and ShRNA-BECN1#1, as well as tail-vein injection with the special inhibitor of STAT3 (CPT). Representative images of lungs showing metastatic foci generated from HCT116 cells and (b, c) quantitative analysis of the average number of metastatic foci and the wet weight of lungs in three groups. d, e Representative HE and representative IHC images of BECN1 and p-STAT3 expression in HCT116 cell lung metastatic foci. Scale bar: 100 μm.