Figure 1.

MDA cells lose their metastatic ability upon coculture with activated hMSCs. (a) Schematic diagram. (b) Representative images from flow cytometry analyses detecting CD44 expression in MDA cells under different conditions. Values are mean±S.D. n=3. (c and d) Cell migration assay; representative images (c) and the counted number of migrated MDA cells (d) of migration assay. Values are mean±S.D. n=4; *P<0.05; **P<0.01; one-way ANOVA. (e and f) Invasion assay of MDA cells; representative images (e) and quantified total area at day 5 (f) of 3D invasion assay. Values are mean±S.D. n=6; **P<0.01; *** P<0.001; one-way ANOVA. (g and h) Images (g) and calculated volume (h) of primary tumors in the mammary fat pad of mice 6 weeks after implantation of MDA cells as shown in Figure 1a. n=5; *P<0.05; ***P<0.001; Student's t-test. (i) Metastasized MDA cells in lungs of animals from (g) using quantitative PCR for human Alu sequences. n=5; *P<0.05; Student's t-test. (j) Western blot analysis for PKC-α expression in MDA cells isolated from different conditions as indicated in Figure 1a