FIGURE 5.

The miR-16-1-3p/PGK1 axis regulates breast tumor growth and metastasis in nude mice. (A) MDA-MB-231 cells stably infected with lentivirus harboring PGK1 shRNA or control shRNA (Ctrl shRNA) were treated with antagomiR-16-1-3p or antagomiR-NC and injected into nude mice as indicated. After 42 days, mice were euthanized to harvest tumors. Images of all xenograft tumors excised at day 42 are shown. The tumor growth curves were plotted. Lactate production of representative tumor tissues was measured. miR-16-1-3p and PGK1 expression of representative tumor tissues was determined by RT-qPCR and immunoblot, respectively. Tumor volumes are presented as means ± SD (n = 8). **P < 0.01 at day 42. Data shown are mean ± SD of quintuplicate measurements for lactate production that were repeated 3 times with similar results. **P < 0.01. (B) Representative bioluminescence images at 30 days of nude mice injected by tail vein with MDA-MB-231 cells expressing firefly luciferase and the indicated constructs (n = 6). The luminescence signal is represented by an overlaid false-color image with the signal intensity indicated by the scale (right panel). (C) Representative H&E-stained sections of the lung tissues from (B). The number of tumor nodules are shown (right panel). **P < 0.01 (B,C).