Figure 2. CASC2 overexpression suppressed CRC cells growth and tumor growth in vitro and in vivo by extending the G₀/G₁-S phase transition.

(A) The relative expression level of CASC2 in CRC cell lines transfected with empty vector (control) or pcDNA-CASC2 was tested by qRT-PCR. *P < 0.05 were calculated by using the Two-sided Student’s t-test. CCK-8 assays were performed to measure the proliferation of CACO2 (B) and HT-29 cells (C). *P < 0.05 were calculated by using the Two-sided Student’s t-test method; n = 6. Colony-forming growth assays were performed to measure the proliferation of CACO2 (D) and HT-29 cells (E). *P < 0.05 were calculated by using the Two-sided Student’s t-test method; n = 3. Cell cycle analysis of CACO2 cells (F) and HT-29 cells (G) transfected with empty vector or pcDNA-CASC2. The data are presented as the mean ± SD from three experiments, *P < 0.05 compared with the control, Two-sided Student’s t-test; n = 3. The impact of CASC2 overexpression on tumor growth in vivo after CACO2 cells (H) and HT-29 cells (I) transfected with empty vector or pcDNA-CASC2. Tumor volumes were calculated after injection every 2 days. The experiment was repeated three times, and the data are presented as the mean ± SD (n = 6). *P < 0.05, Two-sided Student’s t-test.