Fig. 3

Incubation of breast cancer cells with sE-selectin increases permeability of p-HMVECs: a Effect of adhesion of sE-selectin-treated BC on endothelial permeability. HMVECs were grown to confluence onto collagen-coated 0.4-μm-pore transwell chambers. MDA-MB-231 cells were pre-incubated with sE-selectin or saline for 10 min and plated onto the upper chamber with 2000-kDa FITC-dextran. The same amounts of FITC dextran was added to the control well without addition of MDA-MB-231 cells. The fluorescence in the lower chamber as a result of endothelial permeability was measured at 60 min after the addition of cells and dye. The data represent Mean ± SD. Statistical significance was determined by Student’s t-test (saline treated-MDA-MB-231 vs. sE-selectin-treated MDA-MB-231). b Endothelial gap formation following adhesion of sE-selectin-treated MDA-MB-231 cells. MDA-MB-231 cells treated with sE-selectin and infused into flow chambers over a 5 min period at a shear stress rate of 1 dyn/cm². Cells were fixed for 10 min, immunostained with VE-cadherin (red), and counter-stained with DAPI (blue). The image was visualized by confocal microscope. Control indicates addition of no cells