Figure 2

Effect of TG2 over-expression on mesenchymal-like phenotype in A431-P cells. (A) Phase-contrast images of empty vector (pcDNA3.1) or full length TG2 (pcDNA3.1-TG2)-transfected cells cultured on six-wells plates in culture medium containing 10% FBS (×100 magnification). At 48 h post-transfection, (B) cell lysates were prepared and subjected to immunoblotting analysis for TG2, Snail, fibronectin, N-cadherin, and vimentin. (C) Cells were immuno-stained for fibronectin (green) and vimentin (red) as well as having DAPI (blue) staining of the nuclei. The fluorescence images were visualized by confocal microscopy. (D) Total mRNA was extracted and analyzed for TG2, Snail and MMP-9 by RT-PCR. (E) Cell migratory activity was determined using the wound healing assay as described in figure 1. Quantitative data are presented as the mean (± SD) percentage of migration distance (n = 20). * indicates a significant difference compared with the control (p < 0.05).