Fig. 6. Mitochondrial STAT5A supports cell proliferation in vitro under hypoxia and tumor growth in vivo.

a STAT5A-KO HeLa cells were stably transfected with indicated expression vectors. The cells were under normoxic or hypoxic (1% O₂) conditions for indicated days. Parental HeLa cells were used as the control. The cell proliferation analysis was measured by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8). b, c Parental or STAT5A-KO HeLa cells stably overexpressing EV or Mito-STAT5A were implanted subcutaneously in nude mice. After 3 weeks, the tumors dissected from nude mice were photographed for comparison (b). The weight of implanted tumors (c). Five mice were used in each group (n = 5). d A proposed model shows that mitochondrial STAT5A acts as a regulator of PDC activity. For statistical analysis, all data shown are mean values ± SD (error bar) from three independent experiments.