Exogenous expression of N-cadherin in the weakly motile MCF-7 cell line enhances motility and reduces Akt3 expression. (a) MCF-7 cells were transfected with either a tetracycline-inducible N-cadherin expression vector (lanes 1 and 2) or a constitutive N-cadherin complementary DNA (cDNA) construct (lanes 3 and 4). Cell lysates were immunoblotted for N-cad, Akt3, Akt2, Akt1, E-cad and β-actin. (b) MCF-7 and MCF-7-N-cad cells were tested for cell motility and Matrigel invasion in Boyden chambers. The number of migrated or invaded cells in each well was counted from seven × 20 microscope fields. The bar graphs show the average number of migrated or invaded cells per field±s.e.m. from three independent experiments; ***P<0.001, two-tailed t-test.