Fig. 2

Overexpression of IMPDH2 promotes proliferation, migration and invasion of CRC cells and accelerates tumour growth in the nude mouse model. (a and b) Overexpression of IMPDH2 was confirmed at the protein and mRNA level in SW480 and LoVo cells by western blotting and qPCR. Mean ± SD (n = 3). (c and d) IMPDH2 overexpression promoted proliferation ability of SW480 and LoVo cells as determined by colony formation and CCK8 assays. Mean ± SD (n = 3). (e) IMPDH2 overexpression significantly promoted the invasion ability of SW480 and LoVo cells by the transwell assay. Representative photographs (left) and quantification (right) are shown. The number of cells that invaded through the extracellular matrix after 24 h was counted in five randomly selected microscopic fields. Mean ± SD (n = 3). Scale bars, 100 μm. (f) IMPDH2 overexpression significantly promoted the migration ability of SW480 and LoVo cells by cell wound healing assay. Images were taken at 0 h, 24 h, 48 h and 72 h. The number of migrated cells was counted (right). Mean ± SD (n = 3). Scale bars, 200 μm. (g) IMPDH2 overexpression promoted tumour growth in the nude mouse model by xenograft growth assay. Gross observation of xenograft tumour size (left). Plot of tumour volume and weight over time (right). (h) H&E and Ki-67 staining of a xenograft tumour. The percent of Ki-67 positive cells was shown (right). Each error bar represents the mean ± SD of three replicate samples. Scale bars, 50 μm and 20 μm. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01