Figure 1
MSCs promote the growth of LNCaP prostate cancer cells in androgen-independent condition in vivo.
(A) LNCaP cells (1 × 106 cells in 200 μL PBS) were subcutaneously administrated in the armpit area of male and castrated nude mice. Mice were examined every day. (B) LNCaP cells and MSCs were prepared either as single-cell type suspensions (1 × 106 LNCaP cells in 200 μL PBS) or a mix of cells (1 × 106 LNCaP cells and 2 × 105 MSCs in 200 μL PBS). LNCaP cells (alone or mixed with MSCs) were subcutaneously administrated in the armpit area of castrated nude mice. (C) LNCaP cells were pretreated with conditioned medium (CM) collected from MSCs for 5 days and then subcutaneously administrated in the armpit area of male nude mice. (D) LNCaP cells were pretreated with conditioned medium (CM) collected from MSCs for 5 days and then subcutaneously administrated in the armpit area of castrated nude mice. On 70 day after implantation, the animals (n = 8/group) were sacrificed and tumor volume was evaluated by measuring the length and width of tumor mass (*P < 0.05). Tumor volume (mm3) = 0.52 × width (mm)2 × length (mm). (D,E) The expression of SSEA-4 in tumors injected with LNCaP cells alone or together with MSCs were stained by immunohistochemistry. The tumors cojected with LNCaP cells and MSCs in castrated male nude mice showed a high expression of SSEA-4 in the tumor stroma (arrowheads). Representative photomicrographs are magnified 400 × .
