Figure 2.

Knocked down MEGF11 in TNBC cell lines decreased cell proliferation through suppression of AKT, mTOR and NF-κB signalling pathways. MEGF11 was knocked down with short hairpin RNA (shRNA) in the TNBC cell lines MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468. Cell proliferation-related signalling proteins including AKT, ERK (a), mTOR, and NF-κB (b) and nuclear factors NF-κB p65, CREB, and AP-1 (c) were analysed by Western blot (n = 4–6). Cell migration activity (d) and in vivo tumour growth rate (e) were evaluated by wound healing assay (n = 6) and an in vivo imaging system (IVIS) in nude mice (n = 6), respectively. The mRNA transcripts of chemokines including CCL20, CXCL2, CXCL5, and CXCL11(f) and cytokines including IL1β, TNF-α, IL6, and IL8 (g) were quantified with real-time PCR (n = 4–6). Asterisks indicate a p value <0.05 in ΔMEGF11 TNBC cells compared to the wild type by Mann-Whitney U test.