Fig. 5: Loss of Kindlin-2 inhibits breast cancer progression in vivo.

A Representative images of breast tumor sections from PyMT;WT and PyMT; cKO littermates at 8-week-age stained with anti-Kindlin-2, anti-cyclin D1 or anti-AR Tyr-534 phosphorylation antibodies, respectively. Scale bar: 100 µm. The right panels of A showed higher magnification images of the areas outlined with black squares in the left panels. B Quantification of staining density of Kindlin-2, cyclin D1 or AR Tyr-534 phosphorylation level in tumor sections was shown. ***p < 0.001 vs. PyMT;WT, n = 4 mice for PyMT; WT mice; n = 3 mice for PyMT; cKO mice; for each mice, the quantification was performed from at least fifteen images. C Immunoblotting analysis of primary tumor cells isolated from the PyMT;WT and PyMT; cKO mice with antibodies as indicated. D Mammary gland whole-mounts were prepared from PyMT;WT and PyMT; cKO littermates with indicated ages (left panel). Arrows indicate the hyperplastic area. Quantification of hyperplastic areas in mammary glands was shown in the right panel. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 vs. PyMT;WT, n = 8 mice at 2 weeks of age; n = 9 mice at 4 and 8 weeks of age; n = 3 mice at 6 weeks of age. Original magnification, ×30 (2 weeks); ×6.3 (6 and 8 weeks). Quantification of the largest tumor volume (E) and the total tumor volume (F) per mouse. ***p < 0.001 vs. PyMT;WT. n = 9 mice per group. G Kaplan–Merier tumor-free curves of PyMT;WT and PyMT; cKO mice. ***p < 0.001 vs. PyMT;WT, n = 13 mice per group. wk weeks, WT wild-type, cKO conditional knockout.