Figure 4. Versican enhances proliferation and induces MET in metastatic tumor cells.
A, Flow cytometry plots depicting cell cycle analysis of metastatic breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells treated with Gr1+ CM or control media (Cont). Percentage of S phase cells are indicated. Representative plots are from 3 experiments.
B, Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of epithelial/mesenchymal marker expression in MDA-MB-231 cells treated with Gr1 CM, or biochemically purified versican (+Vcn, 2.5 μg/mL). n=3, *p<0.01 as compared to untreated cells (Cont).
C, Microscopy images of MDA-control cells and MDA-versican cells (MDA-Vcn) depicting morphology (Phase) and expression of epithelial/mesenchymal markers. E-cad,E-cadherin; Vim,vimentin.
D, Western blot analysis of versican (>250 KDa), EMT markers, phospho (p)-Smad2, and total Smad2/3 expression in MDA (Vcn) cells and MDA (Cont) cells. Representative data from three experiments.