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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Sep 15.
Published in final edited form as: Cancer Res. 2012 Jul 17;72(18):4818–4828. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-12-0154

Figure 5. CCN6 overexpression in MDA-MB-231 cells is sufficient to decrease distant metastasis.

Figure 5

A. MDA-MB-231-CCN6-Flag-Luc and Flag-Vector-Luc were injected in the mammary fat pads of nude mice, n=15 mice/group. Representative pictures of luciferase imaging showing primary tumors (P) and metastasis (M). B. CCN6-Flag cells formed significantly smaller primary tumors compared to controls (mean tumor volume ± SD). C. CCN6 overexpression significantly decreased the metastatic burden. D. CCN6 significantly improved metastasis-free survival. The median survival was 57 days vs. 77 days for Flag-Vector and CCN6-Flag mice, respectively (Kaplan Meier log rank p=0.005). E. Photomicrographs of xenografts and lung metastasis of CCN6-Flag and Flag-Vector mice. CCN6 overexpression changed the tumor morphology from mesenchymal-like to epithelial, with upregulation of the epithelial marker cytokeratin-18 (CK-18). CCN6-Flag primary tumors and lung metastasis exhibit decreased BMP4 and P-p38 proteins. Black arrows show metastases in the lung of CCN6-Flag and Flag-Vector mice (200x magnification).