Figure 5.

Knockdown of MMP-9 decreased the metastatic distance and number of CAL-27 cells in the zebrafish xenograft model. A red fluorescent cluster indicated a tumor mass, and the foci marked by white arrows indicated the metastatic tumor cells or lesions that have escaped from the yolk sac. (a, b) The bright-field and fluorescent pictures of whole-body, head, distal tail regions of zebrafish injected with CAL-27/LVRU6MP and CAL-27/MMP-9/shRNA cells at 3 dpi (n = 120; magnification, ×32, ×63). (c, e) Knockdown of MMP-9 reduced the invasive average distance, maximal distance, and number of disseminated cells or lesions at 3 dpi. ^∗P < 0.05 and ^∗∗P < 0.01 as compared with the control. Bar = 0.5 mm.