Figure 4

BST-2 expression in cancer cells is a strong prognostic factor for morbidity and overall survival. (A) Clinical score plot of mice implanted with 4T1 BST-2-expressing shControl and BST-2-suppressed sh413 cells. Clinical signs were scored as follows: 0 = no abnormal clinical signs; 1 = ruffled fur but lively; 2 = ruffled fur, activity level slowing, sick; 3 = ruffled fur, eyes squeezed shut, hunched, hardly moving, very sick; 4 = moribund; 5 = dead [23]. (B) Representative gross images of the abdomen of uninjected (left), shControl-implanted (middle), and sh413-implanted (right) mice. Arrow points to metastatic ascites (middle panel). (C) Representative splenic gross images (top panel insets) and spleen histology at low magnification (4X, top panel). Boxed regions are shown at higher magnification (60X) from uninjected (left panel), shControl (middle panel), and sh413 (right panel) injected BALB/c mice (bottom panels). There was marked expansion of red pulp due to granulocytic hyperplasia in the shControl spleen with slightly increased number of granulocytes in the red pulp of the sh413 spleen. Scale bar = 5 mm. (D) Kaplan-Meier survival plot of mice implanted with BST-2-expressing shControl and BST-2-suppressed sh413 4T1 cells. Numbers are P values and error bars represent standard deviations. Median overall survival (OS) time and the area under the curve (AUC) are shown for each group.