Fig. 3

Evaluation of the prometastatic activity of 1833 control and EPCR-silenced cells. a Outline of the experiment after intracardiac inoculation (n = 8, n = 7, and n = 6 for shControl, shEPCR#1, and shEPCR#2, respectively). b Number of mice and the bones with metastasis in each group. Whole-body (c) and hind limbs (d) photon flux quantification along the experiment. Data were normalized with BLI values from day 0. e Tumor area quantification in H&E-stained bone sections. f Osteolytic bone area quantification in X-ray images at day 28 post-injection. g Representative images of BLI, micro-CT scans, X-ray scans, H&E-stained bone sections, and immunohistochemical staining of EPCR in tumors, from top to bottom, respectively. Scale bar 20 μm. h Outline of the experiment of intratibial bone colonization (n = 8 per group). i BLI quantification in the hind limbs along the whole experimental period. Data were normalized with BLI values from day 0. j Tumor area quantification in H&E-stained bone sections. k Osteolytic bone area quantification in X-ray images at day 25 post-injection. l Representative images of BLI, X-ray scans, and H&E-stained bone sections, from top to bottom, respectively. All data represented are mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001