Figure 9. GLO1-depleted breast cancer cells show an increased metastatic potential in a mouse xenograft model.
(A) MDA-MB-231 shGLO1#1 and #2 and control shNT cells were injected subcutaneously in NOD-SCID mice. After 4 weeks, primary tumors were surgically removed. Six weeks after tumor removal, mice were sacrificed and lungs were collected. We had to ethically sacrifice two mice in both shGLO1#1 and #2 groups before the end of the experiment. Representative human vimentin IHC highlights lung metastatic tumor lesions. Adjacent serial sections were used to perform Glo1 IHC staining. (B) Quantification of number and size of vimentin positive foci on whole lung sections. Data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA followed by Newman Keuls or Bonferroni post-test and shown as the mean values ± SEM. The number of mice per group is indicated on the graph. (C) MDA-MB-231 shGLO1#1 cells were injected subcutaneously in NOD-SCID mice (5 mice/group). After 4 weeks, primary tumors were surgically removed and mice were treated with carnosine (10 mM) in drinking water. Six weeks after tumor removal, mice were sacrificed and lungs were collected. Human vimentin IHC staining of whole lung sections highlights metastatic tumor lesions. Magnification 100x. (D) Quantification of vimentin-positive foci on whole lung sections. Data were analyzed using unpaired student’s t test and shown as the mean values ± SEM. *p<0.05 and **p<0.01.