Fig. 1. Depletion of Gata3 activates EMT with increase of Fra1 and decrease of c-Fos expression in mammary tumor development.

A Representative IHC and IF analysis of primary mammary tumors with antibodies against Fra1 and c-Fos. B RNA extracted from representative mammary tumors were analyzed by qRT-PCR. Results represent the mean ± SD of three tumors from individual animal per group. The asterisk (*) denotes a statistical significance from p18^mt;Gata3^+/− and p18^mt samples determined by unpaired T-test. C Primary tumor cells were transplanted into MFPs of NSG mice with estradiol supplement. Eight weeks later, recipient mice were dissected, regenerated mammary tumors and their lung metastasis were counted and analyzed. D Representative mammary tumors regenerated by p18^mt;Gata3^+/− tumor cells and their lung metastasis were analyzed by HE (left and right) and IHC (middle). M, metastasis. E–G MMTV-PyMT mammary tumor cells were infected with psi-LVRU6GP-empty (sh-Ctrl) or psi-LVRU6GP-Gata3 (sh-Gata3), and then analyzed by western blot (E). 1 × 10⁶ MMTV-PyMT-sh-Ctrl) and MMTV-PyMT-sh-Gata3 tumor cells were transplant into the left and right MFPs of three female NCG mice, respectively, in a pairwise manner. Tumors generated by sh-Ctrl and sh-Gata3 cells were analyzed by IHC (F) and western blot (G).