Fig. 2.

Role of MUC4 in the EMT process. (A) The immunoblot analysis showed significant upregulation of epithelial markers such as E-cadherin, Occludin and CK-18, and downregulation of mesenchymal markers, such as N-cadherin, Twist, uPA and vimentin, in Capan1/BxPC3-shMUC4 cells compared with Capan1/BxPC3-Scr vector cells. (B) Confocal microscopy showed increased staining for E-cadherin and CK-18 and a faint expression of N-cadherin and vimentin was observed in Capan1/BxPC3-shMUC4 compared with Capan1/BxPC3-Scr vector cells. FITC-conjugated goat anti-mouse IgG for secondary antibody and DAPI was used for nuclear staining. β-actin was used as a loading control in immunoblotting. (C) Real-time PCR analysis using primers that specifically amplify the Slug and Zeb1 genes showed reduced expression Slug and Zeb1 in MUC4 knockdown Capan1 and BxPC3 cells.