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. 2011 Dec 6;2:576. doi: 10.1038/ncomms1585

Figure 2. Activin increases malignancy and metastatic spread of skin tumours.

Figure 2

(a) Hematoxylin/eosin (H/E)-stained sections from papillomas 20 weeks after initiation. Local micro-invasive foci (arrow) were often observed in papillomas of Act mice (lower panel). Bars: 1,000 μm (top), 100 μm (bottom). Areas indicated by the box on the top pictures are shown at higher magnification on the bottom pictures. (b) Malignant conversion rate of tumours 32 weeks after initiation (experiment III). a()=number of carcinomas/total number of tumours. b()=number of mice with carcinomas/total number of mice. N=10 Act/dnActRIB mice, N=11 wt/wt, Act/wt, wt/dnActRIB mice; *P=0.0237 for Act/wt versus wt/wt, **P=0.0075 for Act/dnActRIB versus wt/wt (Fisher's exact test). (c) H/E staining (left) and double immunofluorescence for keratin (K)14 and vimentin (right) of a spindle cell variant of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in an Act mouse. Left bar: 1,000 μm; right bar: 200 μm. The area indicated by a box on the left picture is shown at higher magnification on the right picture. (d) Lung (top panel) and lymph node (bottom panel) metastases in carcinoma-bearing Act mice. Left and middle: H/E staining; right: K14 immunohistochemistry. Left bar: 1,000 μm; middle and right bars: 200 μm.