IFNα-Expressing Amniotic Fluid-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Migrate to and Suppress HeLa Cell-Derived Tumors in a Mouse Model

Figure 5

Increased cell apoptosis and reduced c-Myc expression in tumors from mice engrafted with IFNα-AF-MSCs. (a) TUNEL assay of tumors harvested on day 7 after the last i.v. administration of MSCs. Bars, 25 μm. (b) Comparison of apoptotic cells in tumors taken from each group of mice. For each tumor, TUNEL-positive cells were counted in five randomly selected areas at ×400 magnification. Error bars, standard deviation. (c) The expression of c-Myc, p53, and Bcl-2 in the tumors. The solid tumors that had developed from 1 × 10⁷/ml HeLa cells administered subcutaneously to nude mice were removed and processed into paraffin sections for further analysis. The tumors were collected one week following the three weekly injections of 1 × 10⁶ AF-MSCs or IFNα-AF-MSCs ( per group). Tumors from three untreated mice were analyzed as controls. Tumor sections that were prepared in parallel were used for IHC using the corresponding specific antibodies and isotype control antibodies. Bar, 25 μm. (d) Quantified results of c-Myc, p53, and Bcl-2 expression presented as the mean density. The stained sections were read by a microscope and quantified using the Image-Pro Plus (IPP) 6.0 software. The mean densities of 10 randomly selected fields at ×400 magnification in each tumor. All harvested tumors were analyzed. Error bars, standard deviation ,

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