Figure 5: Effects of ITGB4 overexpression on HCC growth and metastasis in vivo. | Scientific Reports

Figure 5: Effects of ITGB4 overexpression on HCC growth and metastasis in vivo.

From: Integrin β4 promotes cell invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition through the modulation of Slug expression in hepatocellular carcinoma

Figure 5

(A) Representative images of the xenograft tumors formed in nude mice (n = 6 per group) injected with empty vector or ITGB4-transduced cells. (B,C) Growth curve and weight of xenograft tumors, exhibiting both significantly greater volume and weight of tumors derived from nude mice injected with ITGB4-transduced cells compared with control after 5 weeks. **P < 0.01. (D) Immunohistochemical staining for ITGB4 and Slug in tumor tissues from mice with subcutaneous HCC implantation, demonstrating significantly ITGB4-overexpression and Slug-overexpression in tumor tissues derived from nude mice injected with ITGB4-transduced cells compared with control (original magnification: 400 × ). (E) Representative H&E staining of lung metastatic foci from mice injected with vector control or ITGB4-transduced cells, exhibited an approximately 3-fold higher incidence of metastatic foci in mice injected with ITGB4-transduced cells than in those bearing vector control tumors. **P < 0.01.

Back to article page