Figure 7

Heteronemin suppressed the migration and endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition of human lymphatic endothelial cells. Cells were treated with the indicated concentrations of heteronemin (represented as SP-1). (A) Cell migration was examined by Transwell assays (scale bar=100 µm; magnification ×100). (B) The quantification of migration was performed using Image-J to validate the anti-lymphangiogenic function of SP-1. (C) LECs were treated with SP-1. Then, the expression of ARF-1 and endothelial-mesenchymal transition-related proteins (MMP-9, VE-cadherin and vimentin) was determined by Western blot analysis. (D) The quantitative densitometry of the relative levels of ARF-1, MMP-9, VE-cadherin and vimentin was measured by Image-Pro Plus. Data are expressed as the mean ± SEM of at least three independent experiments. * p < 0.05, ^# p < 0.01 compared with the control group.