Fig. 8

Metformin inhibits xenograft tumor growth and metastasis in vivo and in vitro. a, b Xenografted A549 cell tumors with stably expressing Scramble miRNA and miR-381 inhibitors (miR-381 i) in mice with treatment of vehicle and metformin. The weights (a) and sizes (b) measured at regular intervals. c Kaplan-Meier overall survival (OS) curves of vehicle- and metformin-treated mice injected A549 cells with stably expressing Scramble miRNA and miR-381 inhibitors. d The expressions of Ki67, Cleaved Caspase3, YAP, Snail, E-cadherin and Vimentin were analyzed by immunohistochemistry assay from tumor tissues injected A549 cells with stably expressing Scramble miRNA and miR-381 inhibitors in mice with treatment of vehicle and metformin (n = 5). e-h Representative H&E stained microscopic images of the metastatic lung tumors originated from xenografted A549 cells with stably expressing Scramble miRNA and miR-381 inhibitors in mice with treatment of vehicle and metformin by subcutaneous injection. i-o 95-D cells were separately treated with metformin or co-treated with metformin and Snail, respectively. i The expressions of YAP and Snail were analyzed by RT-PCR and qPCR. j The cellular viability was analyzed by CCK8. k The cellular migration growth was analyzed by scratch assay. l The cell migration and invasion were analyzed by transwell assay. m-o The expressions of YAP, Snail, E-cadherin and Vimentin were analyzed by RT-PCR (m), qPCR (n) and western blot (o) assays. Results were presented as mean ± SD, and the error bars represent the SD of three independent experiments. **P < 0.01 indicates a significant difference between the indicated groups (two-tailed, unpaired Student’s t-test or one-way analysis of variance)