Research Paper Volume 11, Issue 22 pp 10697—10710

Figure 1. Overexpression of MAP2K4 promotes cell proliferation, migration, and invasion of breast cancer cells. (A) MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells were transfected with Lv-MAP2K4 and LEV. Green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression was used to monitor the transfection efficiency. (B) MAP2K4 expression measured with qRT-PCR and Western blot following Lv-MAP2K4 overexpression, normalized to GAPDH. Mean ± SD,*P<0.05. MTT assays (C), EdU assays (D), and FCM (E) in MCF-7-Lv-MAP2K4 and MDA-MB-231-Lv-MAP2K4 cells. Mean ± SD *P<0.05; **P<0.01; ***P<0.001. (F) The in vivo MAP2K4 effect was evaluated in xenograft mouse models bearing tumors originating from MCF-7 cells, n=5/group. (G) Representative H&E stained sections with Ki-67 and PCNA IHC staining of primary tumor tissues are shown. Transwell (H) and Boyden assays (I) were performed to measure the effect on invasion and migration in MCF-7-Lv-MAP2K4 and MDA-MB-231-Lv-MAP2K4 cells. Mean ±SD, *P<0.05; **P<0.01.