CD133/Src Axis Mediates Tumor Initiating Property and Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition of Head and Neck Cancer
Figure 2
CD133 knockdown reduces migration/invasiveness/clonogenicity and impairs in vivo tumorigenic properties of HN-CICs.
To elucidate the capability of cell migration (A), cell invasiveness (B) and anchorage independent growth (C) of HN-CICs (OECM1 (upper panel), SAS (lower panel)) with CD133 down-regulation, single cell suspension of HN-CICs infected with CD133-specific shRNA or control sh-Luc lentivirus for three days were plated onto transwell, transwell coated with matrigel and soft agar, respectively, and analyzed as described in Materials and Methods. Results are means ± SD of triplicate samples from three experiments. (D) Representative tumors of control HN-CICs and of CD133-knockdown SAS-derived HN-CICs were generated, and the tumors were then dissected from the subcutaneous space of recipient mice (n = 3)(Phase contrast: left two panels; GFP imaging: right two panels) (Red arrows: sh-Luc HN-CICs; Yellow arrows: sh-CD133-1 HN-CICs). (E) Tumor volume was measured, respectively, after inoculation of CD133-knockdown or sh-Luc–expressing SAS-derived HN-CICs. Error bars correspond to SD. (*, p<0.05; ***, p<0.001)