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. 2018 Feb 2;8(5):1376–1388. doi: 10.7150/thno.22717

Figure 2.

Figure 2

CAFs are prone to glycolysis and promote tumor growth. A) The expression levels of GLUT1, HK2 and HIF-1α were upregulated in induced CAFs. Expression was analyzed by qPCR in non-activated fibroblasts (NAFs) and induced CAFs; CM: HCT116-conditioned medium. **: p < 0.01, ***: p < 0.001. B) The expression levels of GLUT1 and HK2 were upregulated in isolated CAFs. Expression was analyzed by qPCR in isolated NAFs and isolated CAFs. *: p < 0.05, **: p < 0.01. C) Expression analysis of glycolysis-related proteins/enzymes by Western blot. FSP1 and FAP were used as specific markers for CAF. The protein levels of GLUT1 and HK2 were increased in the induced and isolated CAFs compared to NAFs. D) CAFs promoted tumor growth in vivo. *: p < 0.05. E) Representative photos of mice with xenograft tumors. Tumor xenografts were generated by subcutaneous inoculation of colon cancer HCT116 cells or by co-injecting HCT116 with PDGF-induced CAFs (the ratio of CAFs to HCT116 cells was 6:1; the number of HCT116 cells in each injection was 1 × 106.