Fig. 5

Decreased KOR promotes invasion in vivo. A Protein expression of KOR in KYSE30 cells stably transfected with the plasmid containing shRNA against KOR (sh-KOR), comparing with the empty plasmid (NC). B Tumor formation in nude mice. Sh-KOR cells or NC cells were injected into the right foot pad of nude mice, and tumor volumes were measured after 5 weeks. C Surgically removing tumor tissues from nude mice 5 weeks post-inoculation, and separating the primary and proximal invasive tumors. D Histological images showed that tissues of the sh-KOR tissue exhibited weaker staining of KOR, while stronger staining of pAKT than the NC