Fig. 3

Downregulation of miR-1 or sponging drives a highly aggressive phenotype in SCLC cells. A Schematic of SBC3 and SBC3-miR-1Zip subcutaneous and intracardiac xenografts in NSG mice for tumorigenesis and metastasis studies. B Representative IVIS image of NSG mice injected with subcutaneous xenografts of SBC3 and SBC3-miR-1Zip cells expressing luciferase. C Ex-vivo images of tumors from SBC3 and SBC3-miR-1Zip xenografts. D Quantification of time-dependent tumor growth (SBC3 and SBC3-miR-1Zip tumors) in volume as obtained from caliper measurements. E Quantification of tumor growth in terms of weight (g) at the end of experiments. F Representative IVIS images of mice bearing intracardiac xenografts on the end day of the experiment just before the time of sacrifice (one female and one male mice), with ex-vivo IVIS imaging of major organs for the metastasis of SBC3 and SBC3-miR-1Zip cells such as lung, liver, brain, bone, stomach, intestine, pancreas, spleen, adrenal and ovary. Mice were injected with luciferin i.p. (150 mg/kg in sterile PBS) 5 min before euthanasia; following that the major organs were collected and scanned for metastatic lesions using IVIS imaging. G Quantification of the IVIS luminescence and number of metastases sites from each mouse intracardially injected with SBC3 and SBC3-miR-1Zip group. H Representative IHC of SBC3 and SBC3-miR-1Zip tumor sections for Ki67 and CD31, highlighted with red box provided in higher-magnification or zoom inset. Scale bars represent 200 µm (with successive magnification)