Figure 10.

Overexpressed COL6A3 in EOC-derived EXs accelerated cancerous peritoneal dissemination. (a) Average disseminated tumor numbers in the peritoneal cavity were significantly greater in mice receiving SKOV3-overexpressed COL6A3 (SKOV3/COL6A3) than in SKOV3 cells (*** p < 0.001, as determined using Student’s t-test). Red arrows indicated disseminated tumors in the peritoneal cavity. A total of 1/8 of the mice IV injected with 1 × 10⁶ SKOV3/COL6A3 cells had colonization in the lung, while this was only the case for 0/32 of the mice injected with 1 × 10⁶ SKOV3 cells only (p = 0.043, as determined using Student’s t-test). (b) Representative histologic pictures of the peritoneal tumor and lung colonization are shown at microscopic scales of 40× and 200×. The right lower panel shows the differential body weights of mice among the IP and IV groups treated with SKOV3 cells, SKOV3 cells with ES2 exosomes, and SKOV3/COL6A3 cells.