|
Figure 8 ADSC promotes a stem cell and EMT phenotype in HeLa cells. (a–c) Graphs show the expression level of pluripotency genes evaluated by ddPCR in HeLa control vs HeLa cells cocultured with ADSC. Pluripotency genes include OCT4 (a), KLF4 (b) and ABCG (c). The error bars represent the means ± standard deviation (SD). (d) Schematic representation shows that cervical cancer cells exhibit an EMT-like phenotype induced by the conditioned medium of ADSC. Expression of EMT markers including fibronectin (e), Vimentin (f), N-cadherin (g) and E-cadherin (h) analyzed by immunofluorescence of HeLa cells cultured with or without conditioned ADSC. EMT proteins were stained with Cy3-conjugated secondary antibody and nuclei were stained with 4′-6-Diamidino-2-phenolindole (DAPI). Images were taken in a confocal microscope using an × 40 oil lens. Photographs are representative of three independent experiments. (i–j) To quantify the expression levels of fibronectin (i), vimentin (j), N-cadherin (k) and E-cadherin (l), the intensity of fluorescence was quantified using Image J. Graph represents three biological replicates, error bars are s.d and ****p < 0.0001 and ***p < 0.001.