Journal: Cell Death & Disease
Article Title: HOXA9 orchestrates EMT and metastasis in oral cancer via transcriptional activation of vimentin and β-catenin signaling
doi: 10.1038/s41419-026-08664-7
Figure Lengend Snippet: A Bar plot showing the results of qRT-PCR showing the efficient knockdown of HOXA9 in HSC-3 and CAL-27 cells, at the mRNA level. B Representative western blot images confirming the knockdown of HOXA9 in HSC-3 and CAL-27 cells with β-actin as an endogenous control. Bar plot showing the results of quantitative densitometric analysis confirming the HOXA9-knockdown in HSC-3 and CAL-27 cells at protein level. C Bright field images showing the changes in the morphology of HSC-3 and CAL-27 cells upon successful HOXA9-knockdown (enlarged 10X magnification). D Line plots showing the gradual reduction in the proliferation rate upon HOXA9-knockdown with increase in the cell-doubling time of HSC-3 cells (32.68 h) and E in CAL-27 cells (46.90 h), compared to the corresponding scrambled cells (23.7 hours and 32.27 h), respectively. F Representative images of the anchorage-dependent colony formation assay (upper panel) and its quantitative analysis confirming the reduction in the number and size of the colonies upon HOXA9-knockdown in HSC-3 and CAL-27 cells, when compared to the scrambled cells (lower panel). G Cell cycle analysis of scrambled and HOXA9-knockdown cells using flow cytometry. Silencing of HOXA9 in HSC-3 cells showed a significant increase in the number of cells undergoing apoptosis, and G0/G1 cell cycle arrest (Scr v/s Sh-HOXA9: apoptotic phase 5.461% ± 0.80 v/s 8.58% ± 0.57; G0/G1 arrest 22.39% ± 3.80 v/s 36.60% ± 2.56). H In CAL-27 cells, the silencing of HOXA9 has significantly induced apoptosis (Scr v/s Sh-HOXA9: apoptotic phase 4.84% ± 0.12 v/s 13.70% ± 1.86), compared to the scrambled cells. I Confocal images of actin-phalloidin staining showing substantial changes in actin cytoskeletal rearrangements and the cell morphology upon HOXA9-knockdown in OC cells. The arrows indicate the presence of filopodia (63X magnification). J Box plots confirming the significant reduction in the number and length of filopodia upon HOXA9-knockdown in HSC-3 and CAL-27, respectively. Quantitatively, the number of filopodia in HSC-3 cells decreased from 22 ± 3 (mean ± SD) in scrambled (Scr) to 13 ± 2 in knockdown cells (Sh-HOXA9), and the length of the filopodia decreased from 0.26 µm±0.006 to 0.11 µm ± 0.009. In CAL-27 cells, the number of filopodia decreased from 82 ± 6 (mean ± SD) to 22 ± 2.64, and the length of the filopodia decreased from 0.37 µm ± 0.07 to 0.16 µm ± 0.003 following HOXA9 knockdown. The data represents mean ± SD of the experiments performed in duplicates, repeated twice and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Article Snippet: To generate a stable knockdown cell line, HOXA9 shRNA retroviral plasmids (pGFP-V-RS) were purchased from Origene Technologies (TG307647) and transfected into Phoenix packaging cells using Lipofectamine 3000 reagent (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA).
Techniques: Quantitative RT-PCR, Knockdown, Western Blot, Control, Colony Assay, Cell Cycle Assay, Flow Cytometry, Staining