Figure 4. The morphologic change and expression of genes associated with EMT.

A. When AEP was knocked down, the cells got shrinkage and the number of microvilli and pseudopodia, as the red arrow indicated, decreased, and vice versa. B. The expression of snail, twist and ZEB1/2 as detected by real-time PCR. AEP knockdown inhibited the expression of twist significantly, but did not affect the mRNA level of snail and ZEB1/2. C. The changes in protein markers associated with EMT were detected with western blot. The epithelial marker E-cadherin increased and the mesenchymal markers N-cadherin, β-catenin and Vimentin decreased in response to AEP knockdown. Opposite results were obtained when AEP was overexpressed. Twist, but not snail and ZEB1/2, was significantly inhibited at protein level if AEP was knocked down.