Fig. 1.

YAP promotes the acquisition of stem cell-like properties in ESCC cells. a Immunoblotting of nuclear and cytoplasmic YAP expression in Eca109 cells on two-dimensional adherent cultures or three-dimensional tumorspheres. α-Tubulin and Lamin B were used as loading controls. b Real-time PCR analysis of the indicated stemness-associated genes in Eca109 cells on adherent monolayers or tumorspheres. c Quantification of sphere numbers formed by Eca109 cells (per 1000 cells) after YAP knockdown and rescue by an siRNA-resistant mutant. d Growth curves for EC9706 cells measured by CCK8 assay after pharmacologic inhibition of YAP by verteporfin or treatment with vehicle control. e, f Effect of verteporfin (1 μM) on cell migration (e) and invasion (f) of EC9706 cells assessed using Transwell assay. g Immunoblotting of E-cadherin and vimentin expression in EC9706 cells after verteporfin (2 μM) treatment. β-Actin was used as a loading control. h, i Dose–response curves of EC9706 (h) and TE-1 (i) to cisplatin after verteporfin treatment. j Representative images (left) and quantification of tumorspheres (right) formed by Eca109 cells in the presence or absence of cisplatin (3 μg/ml) and verteporfin (1 μM). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01