Figure5. HOXC8-CDH11 pathway is critical for anchorage-independent cell growth, cell migration/invasion and spontaneous metastasis of breast cancer cells.

(A, B, C) Control (scrambled sequence), HOXC8-knockdown cells and HOXC8-knockdown cells with ectopic CDH11 expression were subjected to soft agarose colony formation (A), transwell cell migration (B), matrigel invasion assays (C). Columns, means; bars, SEM; n = 3; *, P < 0.05. (D) Control, HOXC8-knockdown MDA-MB-231 cells and HOXC8-knockdown MDA-MB-231 cells with ectopic CDH11 expression were injected into athymic female nude mice. After 7 weeks, mice lungs were fixed and sectioned. The sections were subjected to H&E staining and metastases were visualized under a light microscope. Arrows indicate metastases. Top: lower magnifications; bottom: higher magnifications; bar, 100 μm