Figure 4.

The mucin MUC4 induces HER2 downstream cell signalling in SKOV3 cells. A total of 20 μg of cell lysates from SKOV3-vector and SKOV3-MUC4-transfected cells were used for immunoblotting with MUC4, FAK, phosphorylated FAK, ERK, phosphorylated ERK, Akt and phosphorylated Akt antibodies. For MUC4 detection, proteins were resolved on 2% SDS-agarose gel; other proteins were resolved on 10% SDS-polyacrylamide gel. β-actin was used as an internal control. SKOV3 cells transfected by MUC4 clearly showed increased activation of FAK, Akt and ERK in MUC4-transfected SKOV3 cells, whereas the vector-transfected cells showed a lesser activation of FAK, Akt and ERK. The levels of total FAK, Akt and ERK remain unchanged.