Figure 1.

Hypoxia-induced ER stress enhances metastasis of CRC cells. (a–c) HT29 cells or SW480 cells were exposed to normal or hypoxia for 12 hours. qRT-PCR was performed to analyze splicing levels of XBP1 (a) and mRNA abundance of UPR-associated genes (b). (c-d) Immunoblotting analysis of indicated proteins involved in UPR pathways (c) and EMT (d). (d-f) HT29 cells were exposed to normoxia or hypoxia (1% O₂) or hypoxia with or without the presence of TUDCA (100 μM). (e) Representative images of infiltrated cells detected by crystal violet staining using the Transwell system. Infiltrated cells were counted. n = 4 for per group. Scale bar, 50 μm. (f) Representative images of wound healing assays. All data are shown as mean ± s.e.m. ^∗p < 0.05 by unpaired two-tailed Student's t-test.