Fig. 2

SOX4 enhances the cancer cell metastasis both in vitro and in vivo. a Photographs showing Transwell migration assay. b Histograms of the Transwell migration assay results. The data are presented as the mean ± s.d. of triplicate wells. Unpaired two-tailed t-test: *p < 0.05. c Photographs showing Matrigel invasion assay. d Histograms of the Matrigel invasion assay results. The data are presented as the mean ± s.d. of triplicate wells. Unpaired two-tailed t-test: *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001. e Phase contrast (upper) and electronic microscopic (lower) photographs showing pseudopodia (arrows) in MDA-MB-231 cells. f Phase contrast photographs showing intercellular space in day-4 culture of SUM149 cells. g qRT-PCR analysis of EMT-related genes in MDA-MB-231 (upper panel) and SUM149 (lower panel) cells. The data are presented as the mean ± s.d. of triplicate wells. Unpaired two-tailed t-test: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. h Bioluminescent imaging showing tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. 5 × 10⁶ cells (MDA-MB-231-VECT or MDA-MB-231-SOX4) were injected into the mammary fat pad of SCID mice. The primary tumors were removed when their size exceeded 2 cm × 2 cm. i Kaplan and Meier analysis of tumor metastasis for 15 pairs of mice. j Bioluminescent image for metastasis in various organs of a mouse with SOX4-expressing tumor