Fig. 4. u50535 increases tumor growth and lung metastasis in vivo.

a The u50535 overexpressed cells (upper panel, n = 7) or knockout cells (down panel, n = 4) and their respective controls were injected into BALB/c mice. b, c Tumor weights and tumor volumes were calculated. Tumor weights and volumes were greatly increased in u50535OE group, while decreased in u50535 knockout group. d, e Representative H&E images of histopathology of xenograft tumor were presented. Ki67 positive cells numbers per 40× high power field (HPF) were calculated. f, g Representative H&E images of metastasis tumor nodules were presented. Lung micro-metastasis was significantly increased in u50535 overexpression group (n = 5), while decreased in u50535 knockout group (n = 5). * P < 0.05; ** P < 0.01