Fig. 5
Knockdown of circNOX4 mitigates CAF-mediated tumor growth and metastasis of NSCLC in vivo. A Schematic illustration showing A549 cells were subcutaneously co-injected with or without CAFs stably transfected with sh-NC or sh-circNOX4 into nude mice (n = 6 per group). Images of nude mice and xenograft tumors from each group were shown in the right panel. B The volume of subcutaneous xenograft tumors (n = 6). C Representative images of micro-PET/CT imaging of the tumor-bearing nude mice after application of 68 Ga-FAPI-04. 3D MIP Images were collected over 1 h after the molecular imaging probe administration. D Quantified results from Micro-PET/CT images of the tumor to muscle ratio in each group. E Representative images of IHC for FAP, CD31, N-cadherin, Vimentin, MMP2, and MMP9 in xenograft tumors. Scale bar = 100 μm. F Schematic illustration of lung metastatic tumor model construction in nude mice. G The potential for lung metastasis was determined via vein tail injection of the indicated A549 cells. HE staining was used to observe the morphological changes in lung tissues. H Histogram analysis of the metastatic nodule number per lung. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001