Fig. 8.

SOXE directs melanoma mesenchymal migration through the NEDD9-mediated focal adhesion dynamics and RHO GTPase signaling. a A375M cells treated with the indicated constructs were stained for vinculin and phalloidin. Cell nuclei were counterstained with DAPI. Scale bar: 50 μM. The number of vinculin per cell (b), area of vinculin per cell (c) and the average size of single vinculin per cell (d) were quantified. Thirty cells were analyzed for each treatment. e A375M cells treated with the indicated constructs were subjected to RHOA and RAC1 activation assays. GAPDH serves as a loading control. f Quantification of band intensity from the densitometric analysis. g Schematic model showing a dose-dependent role of SOX9 within a heterogeneous population of melanoma in which low level of SOX9 expression is anti-tumorigenic and high SOX9 is oncogenic. Scale bar: 100 μM. Error bars represent ± SD of three independent experiments. n.s. non-significant, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001