Fig. 3: LTSCCAT promotes invasion and migration of tongue squamous cell carcinoma.

a Left: after upregulation of LTSCCAT in CAL27 and SCC15 cells, cells transitioned from an epithelial morphology to interstitial morphology. Right: after knockdown of LTSCCAT expression with two siRNAs in CAL27/LPS and SCC15/LPS, cells gradually transitioned from an interstitial morphology to epithelial morphology. (×200). b Western blot analyses showed that after overexpression of LTSCCAT in CAL27 and SCC15 cells, E-cadherin decreased and vimentin and Twist1 increased. After knockdown of LTSCCAT with two siRNAs in CAL27/LPS and SCC15/LPS cells, E-cadherin increased and vimentin and Twist1 decreased. c Immunofluorescence results showed that E-cadherin was downregulated and vimentin was upregulated in CAL27 and SCC15 cells after overexpression of LTSCCAT, whereas E-cadherin was upregulated and vimentin was downregulated after knockdown of LTSCCAT with two siRNAs in CAL27/LPS and SCC15/LPS cells. d After overexpression of LTSCCAT in CAL27 and SCC15, the expression level of LTSCCAT was upregulated compared with control cells. e After knockdown of LTSCCAT with two siRNAs in CAL27/LPS and SCC15/LPS cells, the expression level of LTSCCAT was downregulated compared with control cells. f Transwell invasion and migration assays demonstrated that the invasive and migratory ability of CAL27 and SCC15 cells was increased after overexpression of LTSCCAT, and the invasion and migration of CAL27/LPS and SCC15/LPS cells decreased after LTSCCAT knockdown. Error bars represent the mean±S.D. from three independent experiments. (**P < 0.01).