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. 2013 Jul 14;4(7):1103–1116. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.1078

Figure 1. Stromal fibroblasts in oro-pharyngeal cancers contain activated AKT A) Oro-pharyngeal tumour samples were stained with anti-pAKT (Ser 473) and anti-Fibroblast Specific Protein 1 (FSP1).

Figure 1

White arrows show cells staining positive for both pAKT (Ser 473) and FSP1. Scale bar = 25 µm. B) Quantification of staining, where cells were counted as follows: all FSP1 positive cells were counted (to a total of 600 cells per normal and tumour section each per slide). Cells stained for both pAKT (Ser 473) and FSP1 were also counted. The histogram shows the percentage of cells that were pAKT(Ser 473) and FSP1 positive out of all FSP1 positive cells. C) Knockdown of PTEN in primary human foreskin fibroblasts. Western blot analysis shows knockdown and subsequent increase in active, phosphorylated AKT at Ser 473. D) Organotypic raft cultures of scramble control and PTENa and PTENb knockdown fibroblasts cultured with E6/E7-expressing keratinocytes showing invasion of keratinocytes. Arrows distinguish the basal membrane. Scale bar = 100µm. E) Quantification of invasions per cm of raft in relation to the scramble control raft culture shows an induction of invasions after loss of PTEN in stromal fibroblasts. P-values: *=p<0.05; ***=p<0.001. All experiments were repeated 3 times.