Fig. 3. EVs-secreted miR-424 drives the acquisition of stem cell traits and in vivo tumorigenesis.
A Schematic of EVs isolation and functional characterization. B Representative image of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of cell line-derived EVs. C EV-surface markers in cell line-derived EVs by MACSPlex analysis. D miR-424 levels in EVs derived from RWPE-1 and LNCaP cells with (EVs-424) and without (EVs-CTRL) stable expression of miR-424. E Visualization of recipient cells incubated with fluorescently labeled EVs (PKH26, red) from RWPE-1 and LNCaP donor cells by confocal microscopy. Nuclei were stained with Hoechst (blue). F Level of miR-424 in RWPE-1 (upper) and LNCaP (lower) recipient cells incubated with EVs-CTRL or EVs-424. G Tumor-sphere formation by RWPE-1 (upper) and LNCaP (lower) cells supplemented with EVs-CTRL or EVs-424. H Confocal microscopy images of RWPE-1 recipient cells incubated for 24 h with EVs-CTRL or EVs-424 labeled with PKH67 (green) or PKH26 (red) fluorescent dyes. I Confocal microscopy images of tumor-spheres formed by RWPE-1 cells incubated with fluorescently labeled EVs as above. Right: quantification of fluorescently labeled tumor-spheres. J Growth of subcutaneous xenografts of RWPE-1 cells supplemented in vitro with EVs-CTRL and EVs-424 derived from stably expressing donor LNCaP cells. n = 4/group. K Tumor growth of LNCaP cells supplemented in vitro with EVs-CTRL and EVs-424 derived from stably expressing LNCaP donor cells. n = 4/group. Right panels, H&E and IHC staining for Ki67 in xenograft explants.*p ≤ 0.05, **p ≤ 0.01 by two-tailed Student’s t-test.