Fig. 4

Up-regulation of CPEB1 resulted in the inhibition of cell growth and metastasis of human colorectal cancer in vivo. a Xenograft tumours in mice injected with HCT116 cells that were transfected with pcDNA3.1 (Empty), pcDNA3.1-CPEB1 (CPEB1), or that were not transfected (WT) were evaluated; n = 4 mice per group. b, c CPEB1 overexpression in HCT116 cells resulted in a significant decrease in tumour size (b) and tumour volume (c) in this mouse model. d Hematoxylin–eosin (H&E) staining of mouse tumour tissue in CPEB1, empty, and WT groups. e Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining for Ki67 verified that overexpression of CPEB1 resulted in a reduced capacity for cell proliferation. f WB revealed an increased level of E-cadherin and a decreased level of MMP-9 in the mice CRC tumours derived from cell lines transfected with the CPEB1-containing recombinant plasmid. g Body weights of injected mice were recorded throughout; WT, mice injected with untransfected CRC cells; Empty, mice injected with CRC cells that were transfected with the pcDNA3.1 empty vector; CPEB1, mice transfected with the pcDNA3.1-CPEB1 recombination plasmid vector; ^#P > 0.05 indicates no statistical significance between results from WT, Empty, and CPEB1 groups; *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001