Fig. 3

NOX4 was upregulated in pancreatic cancer and promoted the metastasis of pancreatic cancer cells. a The mRNA level of NOX4 in pancreatic cancer tissues and adjacent normal tissues from GSE15471 and GSE16515. b The NOX4 expression of pancreatic cancer samples of different pathologic stages and histologic grades in TCGA database. c Kaplan–Meier survival analysis for NOX4 expression in 56 PC patients. d The representative IHC section of PC tissues for NOX4 and IHC scores of 56 PC patients for NOX4 corresponding to different tumor grades. HE staining from the same area was used to prove that NOX4 was expressed in tumor cells. e, f The migration and invasion of HPAC and Panc1 cells after NOX4 overexpress and knockdown by transwell assays. g The number of metastatic lesions and percent of metastatic area in the lung section 4 weeks after HPAC cells with NOX4 knockdown and overexpression injection. Four mice for each group. ns, no significance, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001