Figure 4

MiR-93-mediated TGFβR2 down-regulation facilitates NPC aggressiveness in vivo . (A) Tumor cells were subcutaneously injected into nude mice (5 mice each group). Pictures of subcutaneous tumor tissues were showed in whole nude mice injected with CNE1-miR-93 cells (red arrow) and CNE1-miR-C cells (yellow arrow). Tumor volumes were determined by measuring the major (a) and minor (b) diameters at the indicated time points, calculated according to the formula = 0.5 × a × b², and plotted as the mean ± SD. ***P < 0.001. (B) TGFβR2 protein expression was examined using IHC in tumor tissues derived from the indicated mouse group (400×). (C) The representative GFP images of mouse models transplanted by CNE1-miR-93 cells (upper) and CNE1-miR-C cells (lower). The whole mouse body and resected organs were showed separately. The primary and metastatic tumors were displayed with green fluorescence under whole body imaging system. In the GFP images of resected organs, the lungs (red arrow), liver (yellow arrow), kidneys, and lymph nodes (white arrow) were placed from the upper to bottom respectively and the spleen is at the right side. (D) The differences of pulmonary or lymphatic metastasis between two groups (n = 8 per group; Fisher’s exact test. *P < 0.05) and the number of lymph node metastasis of mice (mean ± SD, 5.375 ± 1.349 and 0.625 ± 0.4799 in miR-93 cells and control cells respectively, P = 0.0046).