Skip to main content
. 2018 Aug 6;128(9):3887–3905. doi: 10.1172/JCI96393

Figure 5. SCCCs present enhanced chemoresistance.

Figure 5

(A–D) Chemoresistance evaluation of SCCCs and RCCCs in indicated models. (A–C) Analysis of apoptosis (A and C) and proportion of SCCCs (B and C) after chemotherapy exposure. OX, oxaliplatin; DTIC, light-activated dacarbazine; TMZ, temozolomide. Apoptosis measurements: SW1222 RCCC vehicle (VEH) vs. SCCC OX (P ≤ 0.01); RCCC OX vs. SCCC VEH (P ≤ 0.0001); MMLN9 RCCC DTIC vs. SCCC VEH (P ≤ 0.0001); e216 RCCC TMZ vs. SCCC VEH (P ≤ 0.0001). (D) Immunofluorescence of caspase-3 (CASP3) (n = 6 per group) treated or not treated with oxaliplatin. Arrowheads, SCCCs; asterisk, apoptotic areas. Scale bar: 100 μm. (E) qPCR of indicated genes. Data are represented as mean ± SD of triplicates. ND, not detected; r.u., relative units. (F) Apoptosis flow cytometric evaluation in RCCCs and SCCCs from CRC-SW1222-H2BeGFP cells growing as MTs. FTC, fumitremorgin C. Apoptosis measurements: RCCC VEH/FTC vs. RCCC OX/OX+FTC (P ≤ 0.0001); RCCC VEH/FTC vs. SCCC VEH/FTC (P ≤ 0.01); RCCC VEH/FTC vs. SCCC OX+FTC (P ≤ 0.001); RCCC OX/OX+FTC vs. SCCC VEH/FTC/OX/OX+FTC (P ≤ 0.0001); SCCC VEH/FTC vs. SCCC OX+FTC (P ≤ 0.0001); SCCC OX vs. SCCC OX+FTC (P ≤ 0.001). (G) Drug sensitivity of cancer cell lines according to PanC-SCCC signature scores. Adjusted Wilcoxon test. (H) Disease-free survival of chemo-treated high-risk stage II/III colon cancer patients (GSE39582, n = 151) according to CRC-SCCC signature score. HR, hazard ratio. Cox proportional hazards model. (A–C and F) Data are represented as mean ± SEM. (A, B, E, and F) Data were obtained from triplicates of 3 independent experiments. (A–C, E, and F) Blue bars, RCCCs; green bars, SCCCs. (A and F) 1-way ANOVA. (B, C, and E) 2-tailed Student’s t test. (A–C and E–G) *P ≤ 0.05; **P ≤ 0.01; ***P ≤ 0.001; ****P ≤ 0.0001.