Fig. 4

Tspan7 controls EMT induction, and knocking down of it suppresses in vivo OS metastasis. A Expression of EMT markers in HOS and U2OS cells stably knockdown or overexpression Tspan7. B Quantification of the western blotting results presented in A. C Representative images of lungs harboring OS metastases (arrows) on day 30 following the injection of HOS cells expressing shNC or shTspan7. D The presence of metastatic foci (dotted lines and black arrows) in lung pathological sections was assessed after H&E staining. Blue arrows indicate alveolar tissue. Scale bar = 40 μm and 10 μm. E Numbers of lung metastases per group were quantified (5 mice/group). F The administration of shTspan7 did not influence the body weights in the mice. G The administration of shTspan7 reduced slightly the lung weights in the mice. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. Student’s t-test