Figure 6. miR-33b suppresses gastric tumorigenicity in vivo.
(A) Photographs of the mice injected with scramble control and miR-33b mimics. (B) Tumors formed in the two group of nude mice. 5 × 106 HGC-27 cells were subcutaneously injected into nude mice and miR-33b mimics (or scramble control) were directly into the tumor every 7 days. Tumors were harvested after 5 weeks. (C) Graph representing tumor volumes at the indicated days during the experiment for the miR-33b mimics group and scramble group. Five mice in each group. (D) Tumor weight averages between the scramble and miR-33b mimics groups at the end of the experiment (day 35). (E) H&E staining and immunohistochemistry analysis of Ki-67 expression in tumors from xenograft mice of the two group. (F) Nude mice were injected with HGC-27 cells infected with Lenti-33b or Lenti-scr through the lateral tail vein. Five weeks after injection, the mice were killed and the livers were dissected for microscopic histology. (G) The numbers of liver metastases in mice injected with Lenti-33b-infected HGC-27 cells were significantly lower than those in mice injected with Lenti-scr-infected cells. (H) Histological analysis of sections from livers of the mice injected with HGC27 cells treated by either Lenti-scr (control) or Lenti-33b. Images shown in the top-right panel represent magnified view of boxed region indicated in the panel. Data are mean ± SD and representative of three independent experiments. (∗p < 0.05; ∗∗p < 0.01; ∗∗∗p < 0.001).