Figure 3.
IR-Induced Bcl-w Promotes Primary Breast Tumor Formation and Pulmonary Metastasis in Nude Mice
(A) The plan of animal experiments was described, in which sh-Bcl-w-transfected MDA-MB-231 cells (1 × 106 cells/mouse) were orthotopically injected into mammary fat pads of 8-week-old nude mice. After implantation, mice were exposed to IR three times per 2.5 Gy and then sacrificed at 21 days. (B and C) Primary breast tumor growth (B) and pulmonary metastatic nodules (scale bar, 100 μm) (C) are shown as box-and-whisker plots, and pulmonary tissues of mice were stained with H&E (C, top) (n = 4 animals per group), respectively. (D and E) Using metastatic pulmonary tissues of mice, IR-induced Bcl-w-regulated signaling components were detected by western blot analysis (D) or qRT-PCR (E), respectively. The data are presented as the mean SD (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.005, ***p < 0.0005, Student’s t test).