Fig. 8

CircRNA-CREIT exerted tumor suppressive roles by exosome transmission in TNBC. A Representative images of isolated exosomes analyzed by transmission electron microscopy. B The size distribution of the exosomes was measured by a nanolaser particle detector. C Western blotting analysis for classic protein markers of exosomes. D Representative images of PKH26-stained exosomes that were taken up by TNBC cells. E MDA-MB-231 cells were treated with circRNA-CREIT-EXOs or pLCDH-EXOs, and cell viability was examined by MTT assays. F MDA-MB-231 cells treated with circRNA-CREIT-exosomes or pLCDH-exosomes were exposed to increasing concentrations of doxorubicin. Cell viability was detected by MTT assays. G A schematic diagram indicating the experimental process of constructing the subcutaneous xenograft model and exosome treatment in female nude mice. H Photographs of xenograft tumors treated with circRNA-CREIT-EXOs or pLCDH-EXOs. Scale bars = 10 mm. I Growth curves (left) and tumor weights (right) of the xenograft tumors. The group treated with exosomes extracted from MDA-MB-231/pLCDH cells served as the control. J IHC staining for Ki67 and cleaved caspase-3, and ISH assay for circRNA-CREIT in xenograft tumors treated with exosomes. Scale bars = 100 μm. K Violin plot showing the expression of circRNA-CREIT in the plasma of female breast cancer patients and age matched female healthy donors (left). The ROC curve shows that the expression level of circRNA-CREIT could distinguish breast cancer patients from healthy people (right). L A schematic diagram shows that circRNA-CREIT suppresses TNBC chemoresistance by inhibiting the formation of SGs. Three independent experiments were conducted for each result. **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 compared with the controls