Fig. 2: SOX12 enhances the metastasis of PTC cells both in vitro and in vivo.

Migration/Invasion assays were used to analyze the effects of SOX12 knockdown (A, B) or overexpression (C, D) on the invasiveness of thyroid cancer cell. E Representative in vivo bioluminescence images of BCPAP cells transfected with the SOX12 knockdown plasmid. F In order to investigate the importance of SOX12 expression in the development and metastasis of PTC tumors, we established a lung metastasis xenograft NCG mouse model by injecting SOX12 knockdown and knockdown control BCPAP cells into the tail vein, respectively. The fluorescence intensity of the SOX12 knockdown group was significantly lower than that of the control group (N = 5). G–I Representative images of lung metastatic foci (G). The number of lung metastatic foci was significantly lower in SOX12 knockdown group than in control group (H). Metastatic lung was displayed as indicated (I). P values were determined using a two-tailed unpaired Student’s t test (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001).