Fig. 8: NCK synergizes with TKIs to suppress TNBC xenograft growth and lung metastasis.
a MDA-MB-231 xenograft volume (mm3) was measured every day and calculated by using the formula: 0.52 × length × [width]2. b Resected MDA-MB-231 xenografts of each treatment group after sacrifice at the end of 21st day. c Xenograft burden change of MDA-MB-231 xenografts for each treatment group after sacrifice at the end of 21st day. d IHC images of pBAD at Ser99, BAD, MKI67 and TUNEL staining in xenografts. Scale bar, 20 µm. e Metastases were detected using human hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (hHPRT) mRNA per lung of BALB/c-nude mice orthotopically implanted with MDA-MB-231 cells by using qPCR. Mouse glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (mgapdh) was used as an internal control. Lung sample with CT value < 35 was regarded as metastatic and ≥ 35 was regarded as non-metastatic. f Relative lung weight (to body weight) of mice intravenously injected with MDA-MB-231 or 4T1-luciferase cells after treatment with vehicle, NCK, OSI-930 (OSI), Crizotinib (CRI) or combinations. g H&E staining and quantitative measurement of micro-metastatic nodules in lungs of MDA-MB-231 cell generated metastasis model. Scale bar: 200 μm. h Bioluminescence images and quantification of total flux in the lungs of 4T1-luciferase cell generated metastasis model for each treatment group at the end of the experiment. i Quantitative measurement of macro-metastatic nodules in the 4T1-luciferase metastasized lung of mice in each treatment group at the end of the experiment. All data represent means ± SD (n = 6). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, and ***P < 0.001.
