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. 2016 Aug 20;7(51):84093–84117. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.11455

Figure 3. Effect of HERV-K knockdown on tumor growth in mouse xenografts.

Figure 3

Significantly reduced tumor growth was observed in immunodeficient mice xenografted with MDA-MB-231 (A, top), MDA-MB-435.eB1 (B, top), and SKBR3 (C, top) cells transduced with shRNAenv, compared to cells transduced with shRNAc. Significantly reduced tumor sizes and weights were further demonstrated in these three BC xenografts of MDA-MB-231 (A, bottom right), MDA-MB-435.eB1 (B, bottom right), and SKBR3 (C, middle right) cells (n = 8–10; unpaired t test). Significantly reduced tumor sizes and weights were also demonstrated for xenografts bearing SKBR3 cells transduced with shRNAenv (3C, bottom right) or shRNAgag (n = 5; unpaired t test). The blue panels show green fluorescence of tumors containing human cells, since BC cells were transfected with shRNAc or shRNAenv expression vectors, which contain a green fluorescent protein (GFP) tag. Tumor sizes and weights were lower in the shRNAenv knockdown mice than in the shRNAgag knockdown mice. Furthermore, reduced metastasis to lung was demonstrated in MDA-MB-231 shRNAenv xenografts compared with shRNAc (D; Week 1 and 2). Significantly higher percentages of fluorescent cells were observed in lungs of shRNAc vs, shRNAenv (Week 1; p = 0.0393; n = 3; unpaired t test). Green fluorescent cells indicate human MDA-MB-231 cells.