Fig. 3

Overexpression of CRABP2 promotes EMT, metastasis and invasion of ER⁻ breast cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. (a) Wound-healing, (b) migration and (c) invasion experiments were conducted in wild-type cells (Con) and BT549 and MDA-MB-231 cells with stable overexpress of CRABP2 (Flag-CRABP2). The percent of wound closure and migratory and invasive cells numbers were counted. P-values were calculated by the Student’s t-test. d Analysis of the E-cadherin, ZO-1, and Vimentin expression in BT549 and MDA-MB-231 cells stably expressing CRABP2 (Flag-CRABP2) and vector (con) by Western blotting. e Representative images, HE staining and relative number of metastatic lung nodules of lung tissues of mice. (n = 6 per group). f Immunohistochemical staining of CRABP2, E-cadherin, Vimentin in Con group and Flag-CRABP2 group. Scalebar, 145 μm. Data are the mean ± S.D. of three independent experiments performed in triplicate. *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01; ***, P < 0.001