Figure 11.

Fibroblasts harboring activated HIF1a increase breast cancer tumor growth: 2 weeks post-injection. The tumor promoting effects of fibroblasts harboring activated HIF1a were also assessed at 2 weeks post tumor cell injection. CTR, represents control. As a control, we injected MDA-MB-231 cells alone or in combination with hTERT-BJ1 fibroblasts transfected with the vector alone (pBABE). Since no significant differences between these 2 control groups were observed, they were combined (N = 20 tumors for this control group). For all the other experimental groups, N = 10 tumors per group. Note that the tumor promoting effects of fibroblasts expressing activated HIF1a are still evident earlier on in tumorigenesis, with significant increases in tumor mass and volume (A), but no significant increases in angiogenesis were observed (B). p values are as shown. n.s., not significant.