Fig. 2

Leptin expression modulates the cell growth of NPC. a The mRNA and protein expression levels of leptin were assessed in TW06 cells by QPCR and Western blotting. b Cell growth ability was detected by MST assay over four consecutive days. Relative cell growth was normalized to day 0. c The colony formation assays evaluated the effect of leptin on cell proliferation. The representative images and fold change of foci formation were shown. d Leptin expression levels were detected by QPCR and Western blotting after transfection with either a negative control or leptin siRNA. e and f The effect of siLeptin-TW06 on cell proliferation was determined by MTS and colony formation assays. g-h shLeptin-TW06 or sh-NC-TW06 cells were injected into the right flank of null mice for 8 weeks. The tumor volumes were measured every week. The tumor weight in each group was calculated. i Representative images of Ki67 staining were conducted to demonstrate the proliferative cells. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001