Fig. 3

PKCε signaling is responsible for FGFR2c-mediated induction of the EMT-related transcription factors. Clones were transfected with PKCε siRNA or with Cx siRNA and left untreated or stimulated with FGFR2 ligands as above. a Real-time RT-PCR shows that the increase of the master transcription factor for EMT Snail1, evident only in pBp-FGFR2c clones following FGF2 stimulation, is abolished by PKCε silencing. On the contrary, in pBp-FGFR2b clones Snail1 transcript expression is slightly repressed, particularly in response to FGF7, while PKCε silencing does not affect this trend. b A significant induction of STAT3 mRNA transcript level is observed in pBp-FGFR2c clones stimulated with FGF2 and this effect is abolished by PKCε silencing. No modulations of RNA transcripts are observed in control clones in response to FGF7. c Real-time RT-PCR shows that FRA1 mRNA transcript levels are significantly induced by FGF2 stimulation only in FGFR2c-expressing culture. This effect appears significantly inhibited by PKCε depletion. No effects are observed in control clones in response to FGF7. Results are expressed as mean value ± SE. Student’s t test was performed and significance levels were defined as p < 0.05. *p < 0.05