Fig. 5

ESCC-derived exosomal miR-301a-3p promotes angiogenesis by inducing M2 macrophage polarization. a, b miR-301a-3p expression in EC9706 cells transfected with miR-NC, miR-301a-3p mimic, or miR-301a-3p inhibitor (a) and macrophages co-cultured with exosomes from these cells (b) was measured using qRT-PCR. c, d Expression of M2 markers (CD206, IL-10, CD163, and Arginase-1) in macrophages co-cultured with exosomes from EC9706 cells transfected with miR-NC, miR-301a-3p mimic, or miR-301a-3p inhibitor was measured using flow cytometry and qRT-PCR. e–i Proliferation activity, migration ability, invasion ability, and tube formation ability of TECs co-cultured with conditioned medium of macrophages incubated with exosomes from EC9706 cells transfected with miR-NC, miR-301a-3p mimic, or miR-301a-3p inhibitor were evaluated using the CCK-8 assay (e), scratch assay and Transwell migration assay (f, g), Transwell invasion assay (h), and the tube formation assay (i), respectively. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001