Fig. 7

Survivin is required for anoikis resistance, cell proliferation, cell migration and tumor colonization of ovarian cancer cells. a Western blot analysis revealed that stable knockdown of survivin clones were established in OVCA433 and SKOV3 cells. b Focus formation assay demonstrated that knockdown of survivin significantly reduce both number and size of focus. c Stable knockdown of survivin also significantly impaired the cell migration capacity of ovarian cancer cell lines; SKOV3 and OVCA433 cells. d Upon anoikis assay treatment, results showed that depletion of survivin by shRNAi remarkably increase the number of TUNEL positive signals (RED signals) as compared with their scrambled controls (SC), indicating there is increased apoptotic rates of survivin-knockdown ovarian cancer cells. Bar, 100 μM. e Effects of survivin knockdown on ovarian cancer colonization. Western blot analysis confirmed 80% survivin was knockdown by lentiviral shRNAi approach. Both ovarian cancer cells with stably knockdown of survivin and scrambled control (SC) of A2780cp were i.p. injected into 5-weeks old female nude mice. Average number of tumor nodules and the tumor burden formed by survivin knockdown clone were much lower than the scrambled control and the tumor nodules stunning throughout the peritoneal cavity as photographed on Day 21 (3 weeks). The blue arrows point out the position of tumor nodules