Fig. 7

WNT7B knockdown attenuates the invasion ability of OSCC tumors through WNT signaling downstream target MMP1. A Schematic illustration of the transwell cell migration assay. B, C Representative images (B) and quantification (C) of area covered by migrated cells in wild-type and WNT7B stable knockdown OSCC cell lines. Each measurement was performed in three independent biological replicates. Statistical significance was assessed by unpaired Student’s t test; *: P < 0.05; **: P < 0.01; ***: P < 0.001. D WNT signaling downstream and tumor invasion associated MMP expression profiling revealed by RNA-seq analysis in clinical OLP and OSCC patients (GSE70666) [14]. N: adjacent normal tissue; O: OLP tissue; T: OSCC tissue. E IHC analysis of MMP1 protein expression in clinical patients and the correlation between WNT7B and MMP1 IHC scores in the same clinical samples (Adjacent normal tissue: n = 7; OLP: n = 15; OSCC: n = 12). Statistical significance was assessed by unpaired Student’s t test; ****: P < 0.001. F Western blot analyses of WNT7B and MMP1 expression in wild-type and WNT7B stable knockdown OSCC cell lines. Full-length blots are presented in Supplementary Fig. 4. G, H Representative images (G) and quantification (H) of area covered by migrated cells in wild-type and MMP1 overexpression (OE) cell lines. Each measurement was performed in three independent biological replicates. Statistical significance was assessed by unpaired Student’s t test; *: P < 0.05; **: P < 0.01. I Schematic illustration of the transwell cell invasion assay. J, K Representative images (J) and quantification (K) of area covered by invasive cells in wild-type and WNT7B stable knockdown OSCC cell lines. Each measurement was performed in three independent biological replicates. Statistical significance was assessed by unpaired Student’s t test; **: P < 0.01; ***: P < 0.001. For detailed numbers and statistical analysis, see Supplementary Table 4