Fig. 6.

TRAIL promotes EMT of ESCC via PD-L1 in vivo. a TRAIL stably overexpression EC1 cells or knockdown KYSE150 cells were injected into the vein of SCID/Beige mice, and TRAIL overexpressing EC1 cells were intraperitoneally injected with anti-PD-L1 antibody. After 5 weeks, the lungs were harvested and the nodules were counted. b, c Tumor weight and volume were monitored every other day, mice were sacrificed after 21 days. Tumor growth was significantly inhibited in TRAIL-knockdown cells. d, e mRNA and protein levels of EMT and stemness markers in mouse tumor tissues. e Knockdown of TRAIL downregulated STAT3 and ERK phosphorylation levels in tumor tissues. f Immunohistochemistry of TRAIL and PD-L1 expression in animal tissues; immunohistochemical scoring and correlation analysis were performed. The data are presented as the mean ± SEM. ***P < 0.001, **P < 0.01, *P < 0.05 (unpaired t-test)