Fig. 2
KRT13 induces tumor formation and metastasis of breast cancer cells in mice. A MCF7-KRT13 cells were inoculated orthotopically to female SCID mice (10 mice/group, 2 sites/mouse). Representative tumors were photographed 7 weeks after inoculation. B orthotopic tumors were resected and weighed 8 weeks after inoculation. C weekly changes in tumor volume were calculated with the formula: V (mm3) = length (mm) × width2 (mm2) × 0.5236. D following intracardiac inoculation of luciferase-tagged MCF7-KRT13 cells, whole body BLI imaging were used to assess tumor cell spread and colonization. E BLI images of 5 mice in each group 7 weeks after intracardiac inoculation. F representative H&E stain and KRT13 IHC detection in consecutive sections of MCF7-KRT13 bone tumors (200 ×). G a representative µCT image showing osteolytic lesion caused by MCF7-KRT13 tumor by intracardiac inoculation. H body weight of the tumor-bearing mice at 8 weeks after intracardiac inoculation. I Kaplan–Meier survival plot. J HCC1954-shKRT13 cells orthotopically inoculated to mouse breasts (5 mice/group, 2 sites/mouse) displayed reduced tumor incidence (6/10) and tumor size. K orthotopic breast tumor metastases were detected with BLI in 3/5 mice (red arrow) at week 8. No metastasis was detected in mice inoculated with HCC1954-shKRT13 cells. L representative images of H&E staining and KRT13 IHC detection in orthotopic breast tumor liver metastases at week 8 (200 ×). In the HCC1943-shKRT13 group, a liver metastatic tumor detected 19 weeks after inoculation was used. For all the presentations, *p ≤ 0.05; **p ≤ 0.01; ***p ≤ 0.001