Fig. 1: Knockdown of EphB4 in HNSCC cancer cells promotes distant metastasis.

A Schematic showing experimental design for C57BL/6 J mice implanted with 100k MOC2 cancer cells. 3 fractions of 8 Gray (Gy) radiation therapy (RT) were given as indicated. B Kaplan-Meier curves showing lung metastasis free survival of MOC2 control (Ctrl) shRNA (sh) (n = 18) versus EphB4 shRNA(n = 20) tumors implanted in C57BL/6 J mice. Numbers at risk indicate mice that were alive without metastases at specified timepoints. C Contingency table quantifying the incidence of lung metastasis detected by computed tomography (CT) scans in C57BL/6 mice implanted with MOC2 cancer cells by 36 days post-implantation (DPI). D Schematic showing experimental design for BALB/c mice implanted with 100k LY2 cancer cells. One fraction of 8 Gy RT was given as indicated. E Kaplan-Meier curves showing distant metastasis free survival of LY2 Ctrl shRNA (n = 10) vs LY2 EphB4 (n = 10) shRNA tumors implanted in BALB/c mice. Numbers at risk indicate mice that were alive without metastases at specified timepoints. F Contingency table quantifying the incidence of distant metastases detected by CT scans in BALB/c mice implanted with LY2 Ctrl shRNA or EphB4 shRNA tumors by 35 DPI. The experiments were replicated twice. For Kaplan-Meier survival curves, significance was determined by a log-rank Mantel-Cox test. For contingency tables indicating the incidence of metastases, significance was determined by a Chi-square test. Significance was determined if the p-value was < 0.05*, < 0.01**, and < 0.001***. p-values are indicated for the figures (B) ***p = 0.0009, (C) **p = 0.0044, (E) *p = 0.0200, (F) **p = 0.0073. The error bars represent the standard error of the mean ( ± SEM).