Figure 6.

SRC3 expressed in BMSCs promoted tumor growth of multiple myeloma cells by regulating the expression of Cx43. The BMSCs were treated with sh-SRC3 to knockdown the expression of SRC3 and RPMI-8226 cells were either overexpressed with Cx43 or treated with MAPK inhibitor SB202190. The cells were co-injected into nude mice to establish murine multiple myeloma models. Each nude mouse was injected with 100 µl of cell suspension containing 3×10⁶ RPMI-8226 cells and 3×10⁵ MSC subcutaneously into the right flank for the following groups. MM+MSC, MM+sh-SRC3-MSC+pcDNA3.1, MM+sh-SRC3-MSC+Cx43, MM+sh-SRC3-MSC+inhibitor. (A) Representative images of tumors from each group. (B) Growth curve of tumors was calculated for each group. (C) Representative images of hematoxylin and eosin staining (x10) of tumors. (D) The proportion of TUNEL positive cells. (E) Representative images of TUNEL staining in tumors. Scale bars, 100 µm. Data represent mean ± SEM. ^*P<0.05, ^**P<0.01, ^***P<0.001 vs. control; ^#P<0.05 vs. MM+sh-SRC3-MSC+pcDNA3.1.