Fig. 1

Tumor growth and development of pulmonary metastasis in 4T1 breast cancer progression in mice. a Lung cross-section of healthy control mouse. b–f Mice injected orthotopically with 4T1 breast cancer cells (see Methods). Designated groups of animals sacrificed every 7 days to assess number of pulmonary metastases in 1st (b), 2nd (c), 3rd (d), 4th (e), and 5th (f) week after 4T1 breast cancer inoculation (black arrowheads point to metastatic nodules in lungs) on lung cross-sections stained with H&E. Scale bar represents 200 μm. g Number of pulmonary metastases in mice from 1st to 5th week after 4T1 cancer cell inoculation; n = 10 for 1st –4th week and n = 14 for 5th week. h Weight of primary tumor in consecutive weeks after 4T1 cancer cell inoculation; n = 30 for 1st –4th week and n = 68 for 5th week. (i) Primary tumor volume; n = 30 for 1st –4th week and n = 68 for 5th week. (g–i) Data presented as median and IQR. Black circle indicates outlier. Depending on variable scale, normality of distribution, and variance homogeneity, data analyzed with Kruskal–Wallis test followed by Dunn’s multiple comparison test. Statistical significance vs mice in 1st week after 4T1 cancer cell inoculation at *P < 0.05 and ***P < 0.001