Figure 2.

HOTTIP is involved in maintaining the stemness of BCSCs. A,B, The HOTTIP expression was measured in MCF7 and T47D sphere cells transfected with shHOTTIP or shControl plasmids, and in the parental MCF7 and T47D cell lines transfected with overexpression (OE)‐HOTTIP or control plasmids by qRT‐PCR analysis. C, The percentage of CD44⁺/CD24⁻ BCSCs subpopulations was detected by Flow cytometry in the HOTTIP‐silenced MCF7 and T47D sphere cells. D, Sphere formation assays showed the self‐renewal capacity of the HOTTIP‐silenced MCF7 and T47D sphere cells. E, Soft‐agar colony formation assays showed the clone formation ability of the HOTTIP‐overexpressed MCF7 and T47D cells. F, G, The expression of OCT4, SOX2 and CK14, CK18 in the HOTTIP‐silenced MCF7 and T47D sphere cells and in HOTTIP‐overexpressed parental cells by Western blot analysis. Data are presented as mean ± SD. **P < .01, ***P < .001 compared to Control or shControl group