Fig. 6

IL-11 partially mediates the inhibition breast cancer bone metastasis by miR-124 both in vitro and in vivo. a-c IL-11 neutralizing antibody treatment (5 μg/ml) efficiently reversed the promoting effects of conditioned medium from MDA-MB-231 cells transfected with miR-124 inhibitor (i-miR-124-CM) on the proliferation (a) and differentiation of BMMs as determined by TRAP staining (b and c). Representative images of TRAP-positive multinucleated osteoclasts are shown in b and statistical analysis is shown in c. d-f Recombinant human IL-11 treatment (10 ng/ml) partially reversed the suppressive effects of conditioned medium from MDA-MB-231 cells transfected with miR-124 (miR-124-CM) on the proliferation (d) and differentiation of BMMs as determined by TRAP staining (e and f). * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01 and *** P < 0.001 by two-tailed Student’s t test. Experiments were performed in triplicate and data are shown as mean ± SD. g MCF7 cells stably expressing miR-124 inhibitor (i-miR-124) or NC (i-NC) were firstly inoculated into the left ventricle of nude mice, and then 5 μg IL-11 neutralizing antibody (IL-11 Ab) or the control IgG (IgG) were injected into the tail veins of the mice. Luciferase signals were measured with an ex vivo imaging system. h Statistical analysis showed IL-11 neutralizing antibody partially reverses the promoting effect of miR-124 inhibitor on the metastasis of MCF7 cells. Horizontal line indicates median value. * P < 0.05 by Mann–Whitney U test