Research Paper Volume 9, Issue 12 pp 2666—2694

Exosomal microRNAs derived from colorectal cancer-associated fibroblasts: role in driving cancer progression

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Figure 2. Fibroblast exosomes are taken up by CRC cells resulting in increased miRNA levels. (A) Culture of mCherry-tagged DLD1 cells (red) in the absence (top) or presence (bottom) of DiO-labelled MRC5 exosomes (green), visualized by fluorescence microscopy (10x). Co-localization of exosomes with cells is demonstrated by arrows. (B) Culture of mCherry-DLD1 cells with DiO-labelled MRC5 exosomes visualized by confocal microscopy (60x), demonstrating the presence of exosomes within cells. (C) Flow cytometry of DLD1 cells (control) and DLD1 cells co-cultured with MRC5 exosomes (exosome). The proportion of cells under the M1 region is given as a percentage. (D) Co-culture of MRC5 exosomes with DLD1 and SW480 cells with resultant increase in miR-29b-3p, miR-21-5p and miR-16-5p. Data is presented as mean +/- SEM. Paired t-test: * p<0.05, ** p<0.01, *** p<0.001.