Fig. 5
TMEM52B ECD-derived peptide-Fc fusion proteins reduce tumor growth and early metastasis in vivo. (a, b) TMEM52B-suppressed HCT-15 cells (5 × 106) were mixed with Matrigel and injected subcutaneously into the backs of mice. Mice were then injected intraperitoneally with the peptides and cetuximab (300 µg/mouse; n = 6 per group) at 2 or 3 day intervals (total of eight injections). a Left: Tumor volume (length × width2/2). Right upper: Photos of tumor masses dissected on Day 39. Right lower: Body weight of injected mice. b Immunoblot analysis of tumor extracts. Phosphorylated proteins were normalized against the corresponding total protein except that phosphorylated β-catenin was normalized using GAPDH as a loading control. c TMEM52B-suppressed HCT-15 cells (5 × 106) were injected intravenously into nude mice (n = 5–6 per group) that had been pre-injected with the peptides. Twenty-four hours after cell injection, the lungs were removed and total DNA extracted. Real-time qPCR analysis was then performed to detect human PTGER2. The amount of human genomic DNA present initially in a qPCR reaction tube was estimated (left) from the standard curve (right). Statistical analyses were performed using one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post-test. Values represent mean ± SD. P-values are shown on the graph