Fig. 1: The expression and biological function analysis of VAX2 in GC cells and tissues.

A VAX2 protein expression in normal gastric epithelial cell GES-1 and GC cell lines, including NCI-N87, AGS, SNU-719, MKN-74, MKN-45, SNU-5, and HGC-27, was detected through western blotting. Internal control was conducted using GAPDH. B A western blot showed the relative expression of VAX2 in 12 GC tissues compared with adjacent non-cancerous normal tissues. T, GC tissues: N, normal tissues. C Typical immunohistochemical images of VAX2 were obtained from a sample size of 74 GC tissues and their corresponding normal tissues. Scare bar: 100 µm. D VAX2 expression levels in different tissue groups from our study cohort. ****p < 0.001. E1-3 VAX2 expression levels in different subgroups stratified based on TNM stage, T stage, and N stage. Mann–Whitney U test, ****P < 0.001; **P < 0.05. F1/2 Migration potential of VAX2 overexpression (F1) or VAX2 knock-down (F2) GC cells in a wound healing assay. ***P < 0.01, Vector vs. VAX2; ***P < 0.01, Scr-siRNA vs. VAX2-siRNAp. Migration (G1/2) and invasion (H1/2) assays were performed on GC cells that were transfected with either Vector and VAX2 (G1 & H1) or Scr-siRNA and VAX2-siRNAp (G2 & H2). ***P < 0.01, Vector vs. VAX2; ****P < 0.001, Scr-siRNA vs. VAX2-siRNAp. I1/2 White-light (I1) and green fluorescence (I2) images of lung metastases in nude mice (n = 5). J Number of metastases in the lungs. ***P < 0.01, Vector vs. VAX2. K Representative images of H&E and IHC staining with antibodies against MMP2 in metastatic cancer tissue. Scale bar: 100 μm.