FIGURE 6. Galectin-3 maintained the stemness properties of lung CSCs.

Initially, H1299 cells were incubated in tumor sphere medium and grown as spheres. H1299 spheres were then dissociated to single cells and infected with shLuc- or shGal-3 lentivirus. (A) The mRNA levels of galectin-3 were detected by RT-qPCR. (B) The mRNA levels of Oct4, Sox2, Nanog or CXCR4 genes were detected by RT-qPCR. (C) H1299 cells (2 × 10⁴ cells) were analyzed for their invasive ability using Matrigel-coated Transwell assay. (D) After lentivirus infection, H1299 cells (500 cells per 6-well plate) were seeded in soft agar for evaluating anchorage-independent tumor growth. (E) After lentivirus infection, H1299 cells were evaluated the sphere forming ability. Data represents the mean SD of at least 3 independent experiments, *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01.