Fig. 6
Silencing of HOMER3 inhibits cancer metastasis in TNBC. a Control and HOMER3 silencing 4T1-luc cells (2 × 105, n = 8/group) that stably expressing firefly luciferase gene were orthotopically injected in BALB/c mice. Tumor volumes were calculated on indicated days. b Bioluminescence imaging of spontaneous metastasis on day 35. Upper panel, bioluminescence imaging of lung metastasis was photographed after blocking the orthotopic tumor signals. c Representative bright-field imaging and H&E confirmation of lung metastases. The number of visible surface lesions were shown as mean ± SEM. d IHC staining of HOMER3, p-β-Catenin-Y333, β-Catenin, c-Myc and MMP7 in 4T1 tumors. e Western blot analysis of indicated proteins in control and HOMER3-silencing 4T1 tumors. f Lung colonization model of MDA-MB-231-luc cells. 1 × 106 control or HOMER3-silencing MDA-MB-231-luc cells were injected into BALB/c nude mice (n = 8/group) via lateral tail veins. Lung metastasis burden of animals was monitored weekly using bioluminescent imaging (BLI). Representative BLI images of mice on day 42 and 63 were shown. g Mice were euthanized 9 weeks after inoculation, and lung metastatic nodules were counted. h Lung metastases were confirmed by H&E staining. i IHC staining of HOMER3 and β-Catenin in lung metastases. ***P < 0.001