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Fig. 3 | Breast Cancer Research

Fig. 3

From: Elevated collagen-I augments tumor progressive signals, intravasation and metastasis of prolactin-induced estrogen receptor alpha positive mammary tumor cells

Fig. 3

Metastasis of estrogen receptor (ER)α + tumors is enhanced by mCol1a1. a, b Nodules were counted on the surfaces of all lung lobes under dissection microscopy. Mean ± SEM tumor cell line (TC)2 tumors (a): wild-type (WT) n = 7, mCol1a1 n = 6. TC4 tumors (b): WT n = 7, mCol1a1 n = 8. Mann-Whitney U test, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01. c-h Lungs were fixed and step-sectioned for histochemical analysis as detailed in “Methods”. Green fluorescent protein positive (GFP+) lesions were counted per × 10 field of view (FOV) (c, d). The area of GFP+ lesions was determined in ImageJ, and average size of individual lesions (e, f) and total lesion area per FOV (g, h) were calculated as described in “Methods”. Mean ± SEM Mann-Whitney U test. **p < 0.01, ****p < 0.0001. i-o Paired hematoxylin/eosin (H&E) and GFP stained sections from animals bearing TC4 tumors. Primary tumor (i, m), WT lung (j, n), mCol1a1 lung (k, o), and a non-GFP tumor control (l, p). Arrowheads indicate GFP+ lesions in lungs, one enlarged in each inset. Original magnifications × 100. Scale bar = 100 μm

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