Fig. 2

AGK promotes EOC cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. A The level of AGK protein and mRNA in NOSE cells and 6 EOC cell lines was examined through Western blotting and quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). GAPDH was used as an internal control. B Stably overexpressed and knocked-down AGK EOC cell lines (OVCAR3 and CAOV3) were detected by WB. C Immunofluorescence staining showed the expression of AGK (red) in EOC cells. Colony formation assay (D) and cell growth curve (E) indicated that the growth rate increased in cells with AGK overexpression and decreased in those with AGK knockdown. The number of cells on Day 2–6 was normalized to that of the cells on Day 1 as a control. The number of colonies was quantified through a colony formation assay. Each bar represents the mean ± SD of 3 independent experiments. *P < 0.05. F The generation of the xenograft model in NOD/SCID mice. OVCAR3-AGK, OVCAR3-AGK-RNAi and the respective control cells were inoculated into NOD/SCID mice (n = 5/group). Representative images of tumor-bearing mice (left panel) and the MRI images of tumors (right panel). G H&E staining of representative samples derived from mouse xenograft. The trend of the expression of AGK and Ki67 is consistent with that of staining using IHC. H The tumor volume of different groups was measured on the indicated days. Each bar represents the mean ± SD of 3 independent experiments. *P < 0.05. N = 3 independent experiments