Fig. 3: AKAP8 suppresses breast cancer metastasis.

a Western blot analysis showing the decreased expression of epithelial markers, E-cadherin, γ-catenin, and Occludin in HIM3 cells expressing control shRNA (Ctrl) and AKAP8 shRNAs (KD-1, KD-2). b Schematic of a xenograft model to measure breast cancer metastasis using the HIM3 PDX cells and the LM2 breasts cancer metastatic cells. c–f Tail vein injection of the HIM3 PDX tumor cells showing that silencing AKAP8 promotes metastatic tumor growth. Normalized bioluminescent imaging (BLI) signals c and representative BLI images d were shown at indicated time points. The areas of lung metastasis nodules were quantified by image J e and representative lung H&E stains f were displayed N = 5. e The middle line indicates mean of lung metastatic area, the top and bottom lines represent s.d. In f, black line represents scale bar at 2 mm. g–i Tail vein injection of LM2 cells showing that ectopic expression of empty control (Ctrl) and AKAP8 (AKAP8 OE) inhibits metastatic tumor growth. Normalized BLI signals g, representative BLI images h, lung H&E stains i, and quantifications of total lung metastasis areas j were shown (N > 7). i black line represents scale bar at 2 mm. j The middle line indicates mean of lung metastatic area, the top and bottom lines represent s.d. All Error bars indicate s.e.m. (*) P < 0.05; (**) P < 0.01. N > 7. P values were tested by Student’s t test, two-tailed in c, e, g, j. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.