Fig. 2: Smad4 restoration has organ-specific effects on tumor growth.
a, Schematic of orthotopic, intrasplenic and tail-vein injection experiments. This image was created using BioRender.com. b, Analysis of primary tumor growth after orthotopic transplantation of KC-shSmad4 cells and subsequent Smad4 restoration. Left, fold-change quantifications of tumor volume on day 30 versus day 0 of Dox withdrawal (mean ± s.e.m.; n = 8 independent mice per group). Different color shading indicates independent cell lines. Right, representative ultrasound images of tumors (demarcated by dashed yellow lines). c, Analysis of liver metastasis burden after intrasplenic injections of KC-shSmad4 cells and subsequent Smad4 restoration. Left, percentage area quantifications on day 30 after Dox withdrawal (mean ± s.e.m.; n = 6 independent mice per group). Different color shading indicates independent cell lines. Right, representative macroscopic images of tumor-bearing livers. d, Analysis of lung metastasis burden after tail-vein injections of KC-shSmad4 cells and subsequent Smad4 restoration. Left, fold-change quantifications of bioluminescence signal on day 30 versus day 0 of Dox withdrawal (mean ± s.e.m.; n = 8 and 7 independent mice per group, respectively). Different color shading indicates independent cell lines. Right, representative bioluminescence images of tumor-bearing mice. Statistical analyses were conducted using an unpaired two-sided t-test (b) or two-sided Mann–Whitney U-test (c,d).
