Fig. 5

ARHGEF37 facilitates invadopodia formation in tumor cells and disrupts the interaction between endothelial cells and pericytes. a Hep3B cells (expressing vector or ARHGEF37) were plated on Fluorescein-conjugated gelatin (green) for 24 hours. F-actin was stained with phallodin (red) and nuclei with DAPI (blue). Areas of gelatin degradation appear as punctuate black areas beneath the cells. Scale bars: 5 μm. b Hep3B-ARHGEF37 cells expressing control or Cdc42 siRNA were seeded on Fluorescein-gelatin (green) for 24 hours and stained for F-actin (red) and nuclei (blue). Scale bars: 5 μm. c The pericyte-endothelial interaction in a 2D co-culture with the indicated tumor cells was analyzed by staining for N-cadherin. Scale bars: 5 μm. d Representative immunofluorescence images (upper) and quantitation (lower) of Hep3B-ARHGEF37 cells expressing control or Cdc42 siRNA in endothelial adhesion assays and in trans-endothelial migration assays. Scale bars: 50 μm. The data in panel a, b and d represents the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. *** P < 0.001