Fig. 2
Cx26 is necessary and sufficient for the maintenance of self-renewal, in vivo tumor initiation, and NANOG expression. a Cell lysates from MDA-MB-231 and HCC70 CSCs silenced using three Cx26 shRNA constructs (sh1, sh2, and sh3) and a non-targeting shRNA (NT) control were probed with Cx26, Cx43, NANOG, and OCT4 antibodies. Actin was used as a loading control. b In vivo tumor initiation studies were performed in Cx26-silenced MDA-MB-231 and HCC70 CSCs with at least four mice per group, and the p value was calculated using a log-rank analysis. The graphs show the estimates of stem cell frequencies of NT control compared with the Cx26 shRNA silencing constructs and their corresponding p values. c MDA-MB-231 and HCC70 non-CSCs containing Cx26 overexpression vector or empty vector were probed with anti-Cx26, NANOG, OCT4, and SOX2 antibodies. Actin was used as a loading control. d In vivo tumor initiation studies were performed comparing the empty vector group with the Cx26 overexpression group, and the p value was calculated using a log-rank analysis. The graphs show the estimates of stem cell frequencies with the corresponding p values for the empty vector compared with Cx26 overexpression in MDA-MB-231 and HCC70 non-CSCs. (*p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001). All the error bars indicate the range between the upper and median levels
