Fig. 7.

Insulin-like growth factor 2 messenger RNA binding protein (IMP1) inhibits urethral carcinoma-associated 1 (UCA1)-mediated cancer cell invasion. MDA231 cells suspended in 1% fetal bovine serum medium were plated into the upper chamber of 8-mm-pore Matrigel-coated transwell filters. The lower chamber contained medium with 10% fetal bovine serum. Cells that had invaded to the underside of the filter were stained and counted. a Representative images of transwell assays in control (MDA231/con) and UCA1 overexpressing (MDA231/UCA1) cells. b Effect of UCA1 on cell invasive abilities. Values represent the means ± SD from three independent experiments: **P < 0.01 as determined by Student’s t test. c Wild-type (WT)-UCA1 and UCA1m (UCA1 with a mutated miR-122-5p binding site) were expressed in MDA231 cells. Representative images of transwell assays are shown. d Invasive ability of the cells was analyzed. Relative numbers indicate the mean ± SD from three independent experiments: **P < 0.01 as determined by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey’s multiple comparison tests. e UCA1 and mut-UCA1 (UCA1 with mutations in the two IMP1-binding motifs) were expressed in MDA231/green fluorescent protein (GFP) and MDA231/IMP1-GFP cells. Representative images of transwell assays are shown. f Invasive ability of the cells was measured by transwell experiments. Relative numbers indicate the means ± SD from three independent experiments: **P < 0.01, *P < 0.05 as determined by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s multiple comparison tests