Research Paper Volume 14, Issue 11 pp 4673—4698

Figure 4. Determining effects of CXCR4 overexpression on augmenting the cancer (EOC) spheroid formation capacity. A spheroid culture in hanging drops assay showing that knockdown of CXCR4 reduced the spheroid formation ability of OVCA420 cells (A) and that overexpression of CXCRC4 enhanced the spheroid formation ability of SKOV3 cells (E), which were quantified by counting the total spheroid hanging drop area (percentage of control) from both OVCA420 and SKOV3 spheroid culture experiments, respectively (B, F). Accordingly, the CXCR4 effects on expression of CSC-related CD44, CD133 and NANOG proteins in both CXCR4-knockdowned OVCA420 and overexpressed SKOV3 cells were analysed by WB with the indicated antibody against each protein examined, respectively (C, G). Band density ratios of each protein indicated to β-actin were determined by densitometry analysis (D, H). Data are presented as the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. Asterisk indicates P<0.05 compared with the controls as determined by t test.