Fig. 3

Knockdown of PLOD2 suppresses metastasis in vivo. a Schematic diagram of orthotopic mammary fat pad injections of scramble (SCR) or PLOD2-knockdown breast cancer cells (SHC). b Knockdown of PLOD2 delayed weight loss and improved quality of life in orthotopically injected mice. Error bars represent means ± SD. (n = 6/group) ^**P < 0.01. c Graph of primary tumor volumes. PLOD2-deficient MDA-MB-231 tumors were smaller than SCR MDA-MB-231 tumors. Error bars represent means ± SD. (n = 6/group) ^**P < 0.01. d Kaplan-Meier survival curves for orthotopically injected mice. e In vivo metastasis assays with SCR or PLOD2-knockdown MDA-MB-231 cells. Metastatic burden was detected by bioluminescent imaging (BLI) 56 days after injection. The color scale depicts the photon flux (photos per second) emitted from the metastatic cells. f-g Knockdown of PLOD2 decreased the number of metastatic tumor foci in the lung and liver. Mice were euthanized 56 days after injection and lungs and livers were excised (f). Metastatic nodes in the liver were counted based on gross examination (g). Error bars represent means ± SD. (n = 6/group) ^**P < 0.01. h The metastatic nodes in the lungs, liver and chest were further detected by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. Arrows indicate metastatic colonization. Scale bars, 100 μm