Fig. 6
Up-regulating RI and ILK modulates tumor growth and spontaneous lung metastasis of BALB/C nude mouse xenograft model. 5 × 106tumor cells including the EJ-RI cells, the EJ-ILK cells, EJ-LV5 cells, EJ-FLAG and EJ cells were respectively injected subcutaneously into the flanks of the BALB/C nude mice. After 4 weeks, the mice were ultimatedly killed. The tumors and lungs were collected, weighed, and photographed. a Representative images of the xenograft tumors and the BALB/C nude mice after removing tumors. b Tumor weight analysis. The EJ-ILK cell groups remarkably promoted the growth of xenograft tumor compared with the control groups, whereas EJ-RI cells groups inhibited the growth of xenograft tumor, compared with the other control groups. c HE staining of lung sections, arrows show invasive tumor cells in lung. (magnification 200×). d HE staining of tumor sections, arrows indicates microvessels among xenograft tumors (magnification 200×). e Microvessel density analysis. f Immunofluorescent staining with antibodies against CD31 and S100A4 of vascular endothelial cells. Immunofluorescent and histochemical study demonstrated that large amounts of microvessels could be detect in the tumors of the mice injected with EJ-ILK cells. By comparison, there were fewer microvessels in the tumor of the mice injected with EJ-RI vector cells (magnification × 200)