Fig. 5

ACE2 inhibits the VEGFa/VEGFR2/ERK pathway to suppress breast cancer angiogenesis. (a) Heat map of the correlation of ACE2 with genes participating in breast cancer angiogenesis. (b) UpSet plot of the intersection of angiogenetic cytokines and ACE2 in breast cancer. (c) PPI plot of the correlation of ACE2 and potentially related genes. (d) KEGG pathway enrichment of ACE2 and VEGFa. (e) mRNA level of VEGFa in transfected MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells. (f) Protein levels of VEGFa in transfected MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells. (g) Phosphorylation level of ERK1/2 in transfected MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells determined by Western blot analysis. (h) Western blot analysis of the phosphorylation level of VEGFR2, MEK1/2, and ERK1/2 in HUVECs cultivated for 24 h in the TCM of the transfected tumour cells. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; ****P < 0.0001