Figure 1

MT1-MMP induces SCC9 cells to undergo an EMT and morphologic changes. (A) Stable expression of an empty vector or MT1-MMP in SCC9 cells was established. Pictures were captured under fluorescence microscope. Bar, 100 μm. (B) Stable SCC9 cells expressing empty control vector (SCC9-N) possessed a typical epithelial phenotype, similar to parental SCC9 cells. Stable SCC9 cells expressing MT1-MMP (SCC9-M) possessed an elongated, fibroblastic appearance. Photographs were taken under inverted microscope (Olympus). Bar, 100 μm. (C) Quantitative determination of mRNA expression of epithelial markers (E-cadherin, cytokeratin 18 and β–catenin) and mesenchymal markers (vimentin and fibronectin) in SCC9, SCC9-N, SCC9-M cells using real-time RT-PCR. GAPDH was used as a control. Each bar represents the mean ± s.d. *P<0.05, **P<0.01. (D) The EMT-related protein levels were characterized by Western blot analysis. β-actin was employed as a loading control.