Figure 1.

Enrichment and characterization of CSCs from HCT116 cells. (A) Sphere formation in serum-free medium was assessed and cells were passaged three times. Magnification, ×40. (B) Serial replating assay was performed and spheres >40 µm in diameter were counted. (C) Western blotting was performed to detect stem cell factors, including Oct4 and Sox2 in different passage of CSCs and parental HCT116 cells. (D) Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR was performed to measure GAS5 mRNA expression. *P<0.05 vs. HCT116 group. CSCs, cancer stem-like cells; GAS5, growth-arrest-specific transcript 5.