HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase Promotes Tumor Growth and Metastasis Formation via ROS-Dependent Upregulation of Twist

Figure 11

Histochemical characterization of the formation of metastases in the livers of BALB/c mice ectopically implanted with 4Tluc2 and derivative clones expressing variants of HIV-1 FSU_A reverse transcriptase (RT_A). H&E staining of liver sections of mice injected with 4T1luc2 and its RT-expressing subclones (×400): 4T1luc2 (a), 4T1luc2_RT-1.3 (b), 4T1luc2_RT-5.3 (c), 4T1luc2_RT-20.1 (d), 4T1luc2_RT-An-10.1 (e), 4T1luc2_RT-Ann-10.2 (f). Mean number (g) and size (h) of metastases. Mean size of liver metastasis formed by all RT_A-expressing clones compared to the parental 4Tluc2 cells (i). Correlations between the mean numbers of metastases in a mouse liver assessed by histochemical staining and the levels of expression by the respective 4T1luc2 clone of Twist (day 14 of cell culture) (j) and of RT_A variant per cell (k). Ten high-power fields per mouse () were screened to assess the number of metastasis; their size was evaluated using NIS-Elements software (Nikon, Tokyo, Japan), both values were represented as . Expression level of Twist was normalized to the expression level of HPRT1 and represented as fold change compared to the level in the parental 4T1luc2 cells. Comparisons were done using the Mann-Whitney test, and correlations, using the Spearman correlation test. , , , and .

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