Figure 3.

The potential role of GAST in the STAT3/MMP11 pathway. (A) Immunofluorescence detection of p-STAT3, MMP11 and GAST expression in BGC823 cell clones stably transfected with shGAST plasmids or empty vector. Immunofluorescence images of GAST-silenced cells and control cells stained for p-STAT3 (green), MMP11 (red) and GAST (green) (cell nuclei counterstained with DAPI in blue). (B) Immunofluorescence detection of p-STAT3, MMP11 and GAST expression in the same GC specimens. (C) Western blot analysis was used to detect the expression level of STAT3, p-STAT3 (Tyr705), MMP11 and GAST in the stable transfected cell clones with or without the JAK2/STAT3 inhibitor WP1066 addition by Western blot analysis, β-actin was used as the internal control. (D) Gray scanning analysis showed the expression levels of MMP11 with or without the JAK2/STAT3 inhibitor WP1066 addition in the relative transfected cells. The more decrease of MMP11 in cells with knockdown of GAST than that in cells with WP1066 addition. (E, F) Invasion and migration assays were conducted in transfected cells with or without WP1066 addition. The numbers represented Mean±SD in three independent experiments respectively. *p<0.05, **p<0.01.