Figure 8

Palmitoylated claudin-7 and invasion (a) HEK cells were seeded in matrigel-coated transwell plates, matrigel invasion (recovery within the matrigel) and penetration (recovery at the lower site of the insert) was evaluated after 16 h; mean number ± SD (triplicates) of invading and penetrating cells and representative examples (scale bar: 250 μm); significant differences between HEK-EpC-cld7 and HEK-EpC^mAG-cld7 or HEK-EpC-cld7^mPalm: *. (b) Flow cytometry of MMP and CD147 expression in untransfected and transfected HEK cells; the mean fluorescence index (% stained cells x mean intensity of staining ± SD; three assays) and representative examples are shown; significant differences in transfected versus non-transfected HEK cells: *. (c) Confocal microscopy of transfected HEK cells stained with anti-cld7 and anti-MMP3 or -MMP14; single fluorescence and overlays of representative examples (scale bar: 10 μm). Despite slight downregulation of MMP3, MMP7 and MMP9 by cld7, palmitoylated cld7 promotes invasiveness.