Fig. 2.

The direct interaction between epithelial cells and fibroblasts drives the formation of a fibrillary ECM. a Epithelial cells were cultured in the lower well of a transwell system, with either epithelial cells or fibroblasts in the upper well. b Inversely, fibroblasts were cultured in the lower well of a transwell system, with either fibroblasts or epithelial cells in the upper well. After 7 days, cells in the lower well were lysed, and the accumulated ECM was fixed and stained using specific antibodies. Data show mean ± SD from a representative of 4 independent experiments with 6 replicate wells per condition. E, mono-culture of epithelial cells; F, mono-culture of fibroblasts, E + F, co-culture of epithelial cells and fibroblasts. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001, **** p < 0.0001, Student t test. ns, not significant.