Fig. 5. Overexpression of miR-150-3p downregulates SLCO4A1, resulting in repressed migration, invasion, sphere formation and tumorigenesis but potentiated apoptosis of colon cancer stem cells.

A SLCO4A1 expression in CD133⁺CD44⁺-HCT116 cells detected by western blot; B migration ability of CD133⁺CD44⁺ cells detected by scratch test. C Invasion ability of CD133⁺CD44⁺ cells detected by transwell assay. D Sphere formation ability of CD133⁺CD44⁺ cells measured by suspension sphere formation assay. E Apoptosis of CD133⁺CD44⁺ cells detected by flow cytometry following Annexin V and PI staining. F miR-150-3p expression detected by qPCR; SLCO4A1 expression determined by western blot. G Tumor weight of nude mice. H Tumor volume of nude mice. *p < 0.05 vs. cells transfected with mimic NC, ^#p < 0.05 vs. cells co-transfected with miR-150-3p mimic and vector NC. Data were measurement data and expressed as mean ± standard deviation. Unpaired t-test was used for the comparison of data between two groups. Repeated measurement ANOVA was applied for data comparison among multiple groups at different time points with Bonferroni’s post hoc test. n = 8.