Fig. 2

Ectopic expression of SKP1 promotes the stemness and EMT of colorectal cancer cells. a, b SKP1 promotes the sphere-forming activity of HCT-116 and #1 primary colorectal cancer cells. a The sphere-forming assay was performed to determine the sphere-forming activity of HCT-116 and #1 primary colorectal cancer cells transfected with SKP1 or control vectors. b HCT-116 and #1 primary colorectal cancer cells with SKP1 overexpression exhibited enhanced sphere-forming capacity on serial passage. c SKP1 promotes the frequency of sphere-forming cells in HCT-116 cells. The sphere-forming frequency of HCT-116 cells transfected with SKP1 or control vectors was determined by limiting dilution assay. d SKP1 upregulates stem cell markers of HCT-116 and #1 primary colorectal cancer cells. The mRNA levels of indicated genes in indicated cells were determined by qRT-PCR. e SKP1 enhances tumorigenic capacity of HCT-116 cells. The tumorigenicity of indicated cells were examined by xenograft model. f, g The correlation between SKP1 and EMT markers in TCGA (f) and 30 fresh tumor samples of CRC patients (g) was analyzed by Spearman correlation analysis. h SPK1 promotes the migration of colorectal cancer cells. The migration of HCT-116 and #1 primary cells transfected with SKP1 or control vectors was determined by transwell assay. i The mRNA levels of indicated EMT markers in SKP1-overexpressing and control HCT-116 and #1 primary colorectal cancer cells were determined by qRT-PCR assay. j SKP1 promotes the metastasis of colorectal cancer cells. The number and diameter of lung metastatic tumors were recorded. Student’s t-test (***p < 0.001)