Fig. 3

The migration, invasion and metastasis of OS cell lines were attenuated by LHX9 knockdown. a–d U2OSor Saos-2 cells were transfected with shNC or shLHX9, then they were cultured for 48 h. a The migration of shNC- or shLHX9-transfected cells was measured by scratch wound healing assay. The statistics of wound healing rate was shown in the right histograms. b The invasion of shNC- or shLHX9-transfected cells was determined by transwell assay. The statistics of cells invaded to the lower chamber was shown in the right histograms. c shNC- or shLHX9-transfected 143B cells were transplanted to 6-week-old nude mice via subcutaneous injection (n = 10). The tumor growth was monitored by measuring the tumor volume every 5 days. 30 days later, the tumor tissues were obtained from euthanized mice, imaged and weighted. The statistics of tumor weights was shown in the right histograms. d shNC- or shLHX9-transfected 143B cells were intravenously injected into 6-week-old nude mice (n = 10). 36 days later, mice were euthanized, and the tumor multiplicity on lungs was imaged. Fixed lung tissues were then sectioned for H&E staining, the metastatic intrapulmonary nodules were imaged and counted. The statistics of metastatic nodules in lungs (five sections per lung) was shown in the right histograms. a–d The result was a representative of three independent experiments. Error bars represented mean ± SD. p values were determined by unpaired two-tail Students’ t-test [a, b, c (tumor weight data), d] or two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey post hoc test (c, tumor volume data). **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05