Figure 7. Erlotinib-induced effects on cell morphology and motility require Rho/ROCK activity.

(A) Representative phase-contrast micrographs of U87MG cells left untreated (control) or treated for 24 h with 10 µM erlotinib alone or in the presence of 0,5 µg/ml C3 or 0,5 µM H-1152. (B) U87MG cells grown on coverslips were left untreated (control) or were treated for 24 h with 10 µM erlotinib alone or in the presence of 0,5 µg/ml C3 or 0,5 µM H-1152, fixed and stained with TRITC-labelled phalloidin. Bar, 10 µm. (C) Representative phase-contrast micrographs of U87MG cells left untreated or treated as indicated, before (upper panel) and after (lower panel) performing wound healing assays as described in Materials and Methods. The graph represents the mean ± SD rate of motility, from three independent experiments performed in sextuplicate, expressed as the percentage of U87MG cell motility relative to untreated cells. The differences in motility between cells treated alone with erlotinib or together with C3 or H-1152 are statistically significant (Student's t-test: *P<0.05 and ***P<0.001, respectively).