Fig. 3

NUSAP1 overexpression promotes metastasis and invasion in cervical cancer cells. a-c GSEA plot showing that NUSAP1 expression positively correlated with metastasis. d Representative images (left panel) and quantification (right panel) of wound-healing assays for the indicated cell lines. Wound closure was photographed at 0 and 48 h after wounding. e Representative micrographs and quantification of the invasiveness of indicated cells in matrigel-coated transwell assays. f-k In vivo metastasis assays of indicated Siha cells, the lung metastasis burden of xenografted animals was monitored weekly using bioluminescent imaging (BLI). Shown are BLI images of representative mice on day 45 after injection. The color scale depicts the photon flux (photons per second) emitted from the metastatic cells (in left panel). Representative H&E stained lung sections and the number of lung metastatic nodules in the tested mice (n = 6). (in middle panel). The number of metastatic nodules formed in the lungs is summarized in the right panel. l A popliteal lymph node metastasis model was established by footpad inoculation in mice and analyzed. m Representative micrographs of the popliteal lymph nodes immunostained with anti-luciferase antibody. n Ratios of metastatic to total dissected popliteal lymph nodes from mice inoculated with the indicated cells. All experiments were performed in triplicate. Results are the mean ± SD. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01