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Figure 4
(A) The morphologies of the MCF7 and HaCaT cells expressing either the control vector or HTR2C were revealed by phase contrast microscopy. (B) Immunofluorescence staining of E-cadherin, EpCAM, vimentin, and N-cadherin expressions in the MCF7 cells from A. (C) Expression of E-cadherin, EpCAM, vimentin, N-cadherin, and HTR2C was examined by western blotting in the MCF7 and HaCaT cells; GAPDH loading control is shown (bottom). (D) Effect of HTR2C on cell motility and invasion of MCF7 cells. MCF7 cells were subjected to Boyden chamber assays. Fetal bovine serum (1% v/v) was used as the chemoattractant in both assays. Each experiment was performed at least twice. (E) Representative images of dissemination patterns of MCF7 cells expressing either the control vector (top left) or HTR2C (lower left) in a zebrafish xenotransplantation model. White arrow heads indicate disseminated MCF7 cells. The mean frequencies of the fish showing head, trunk, or end-tail dissemination tabulated (right). Each value is indicated as the mean ± SEM of two independent experiments. Statistical analysis was determined by Student’s t test.
HTR2C induced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-mediated metastatic dissemination of human cancer cells.