Fig. 3.

STON2 overexpression inhibits stem-like properties of ovarian cancer cells. a 3AO and Caov3 cells were transfected with STON2 overexpressing plasmid for 48 h and cultured in spheroid culture conditions for 7 days. Expression of STON2 and the CSC-related markers NANOG and c-MYC were determined by immunoblot analysis. b Quantitation and representative images of sphere-formation (sphere > 50 μm), Scale bars, 50 μm. c Effect of STON2 overexpression on the CD44⁺CD24⁻ phenotype was analyzed using FCM. d qPCR analysis of EMT-related markers (E-cadherin, N-cadherin, and fibronectin). Data represents the mean ± S.E. of three independent experiments. The level of significance is indicated by *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, NS indicates P > 0.05