Figure 1. N-cadherin overexpression protects cancer cells from apoptosis.

(A) Transfection of full-length complementary DNA of N-cadherin. N-cadherin expression was examined after transfection into KOSCC33A cells by immunofluorescent staining. (B) Growth of KOSCC33 cells with and without N-cadherin overexpression was measured using proliferation assays. Five thousand cells were plated in each well and cultured in DMEM medium. After 2, 4, and 6 days, cells were trypsinized and counted. Similar results were obtained in three independent experiments. Data are presented as the means ± SD (n = 3), ^**p < 0.01, compared with control cells (Student’s t-test). (C) Flow cytometry to detect apoptosis was performed in triplicate. The results of one representative experiment of three independent experiments are shown. All data are summarized and presented as the mean ± S.D. ^*p < 0.05, compared with control cells (Student’s t-test).