Figure 3.

Cationic lipoplexes encapsulating SOX2 siRNA (CL-siSOX2) inhibit lung tumor growth in orthotopic and xenograft mice models. C.B.17 SCID-beige mice were injected (A) orthotopically (left panel) or subcutaneously (right panel) with H1650 SP cells as described under materials and methods. Animals received (a) CL-siScr, (b) cisplatin (2 mg/kg; i.p., on day 1 and 6), (c) CL-siSOX2 (22 nmol/100 μL; i.p. for 6 days on alternate days) and (d) CL-siSOX2 + cisplatin. Mice were sacrificed and orthotopic and xenograft lung tumors resected. Micrographs of orthotopic tumors are shown as either nodular (thick black outlines) or areas of sparsely disseminated (broken black lines) groups. (B-D) H1659 SP-derived xenograft tumors in C.B.17 SCID-beige mice were allowed to grow to approximately 150 mm³ in diameter followed by treatment as described above. Mice body weight (B), tumor volume (C) and tumor weight (D) were determined and presented as mean with standard deviation. (D) represents endpoint data at day 15 of treatment except for the cisplatin group; animals in the cisplatin group were sacrificed at day 8 due to increased distress. (E) Immunohistochemical staining for SOX2, E-cadherin and N-cadherin, and (F) H&E staining were performed on resected lung tissue and images were captured by light microscopy. Statistical analysis: student t test: (treatment vs. siScr: *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ****P < 0.0001, and treatment vs. cisplatin: ##P < 0.01).