Fig. 8: MTCH2 overexpression enhances the mitochondrial function and augments aggressive cellular behaviors in CRPC cells.

The primary pPC-1 cells were transduced with a lentiviral construct expressing MTCH2, resulting in the creation of two stable cell selections, namely oeMTCH2-Slc-1 and oeMTCH2-Slc-2, following selection and verification of overexpression. As a control, pPC-1 cells were stably transduced with an empty vector (designated as “Vec”). The expression levels of MTCH1 and MTCH2 were subsequently evaluated (A, B). The equal number of cells were cultured for designated time periods, the mitochondrial complex I activity (C), ATP contents (D) were tested. Cell proliferation (measured by the percentage of EdU-incorporated nuclei, E), cell viability (CCK-8 OD, F), in vitro cell migration (analyzed using “Transwell” assays, G) and invasion (examined via “Matrigel Transwell” assays, H) were also tested. The primary human CRPC cells derived from three other patients, pPC-2/pPC-3/pPC-4, were also stably transduced with the lentiviral MTCH2-expressing construct (“oeMTCH2”) or the empty vector (“Vec”), MTCH1/2 mRNA expression was measured (I, J); Equal cell numbers were cultured for designated time periods, cell proliferation (K) and in vitro migration (L) were measured similarly, with results quantified. The data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD, n = 5). Statistical significance is marked by *P < 0.05 when compared to “Vec” cells. “n.s.” denotes non-statistically significant differences (P > 0.05). The experiments depicted in this figure were conducted five times (biological replicates), consistently producing similar results. The scale bar represents 100 μm.