Fig. 4.

Response of cancer‐associated fibroblasts to TGF‐β1 and fibronectin. Sub‐confluent HFL‐1 were cultured and treated over different times and with different doses of (A) TGF‐β1 and (B) fibronectin. Proteins were extracted and subjected to western blot analysis to detect the time course of (C, D) ITGA11 and (E, F) COL11A1 expression level. (C‐F; n = 3, unpaired Student's t‐test) Vertical axis: expression of protein normalized to β‐actin. (G) Effect of TGF‐β1 on CAF fibronectin production compared to control fibroblasts. (G; n = 9, unpaired Student's t‐test) Vertical axis: fibronectin production expressed as the amount per 10⁵ cells mL⁻¹. (H) Effect of TGF‐β1 in CAF migration toward fibronectin (20 µg·mL⁻¹) compared to control fibroblasts. (H; n = 7, unpaired Student's t‐test) Vertical axis: number of migrated cells per 5HPF. Each symbol represents one patient. The values represent the mean ± SD. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.