Overexpression of Dickkopf-3 induces apoptosis through mitochondrial pathway in human colon cancer

Figure 1 Levels of Dickkopf-3 mRNA and protein expression correlate with invasive potential of human colon cancer cell lines. A: Semi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction of RNA extracted from colon cancer cell lines, HT-29, LoVo and SW480, respectively, and the glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) mRNA was amplified as a control. ^aP < 0.05 vs HT-29 or LoVo using Student’s t test; B: Endogenous Dickkopf-3 (Dkk-3) protein expression was examined by immunoblot analysis of total cellular protein isolated from three colon cancer cell lines: HT-29, LoVo and SW480, and actin was utilized as a loading control. ^cP < 0.05 vs HT-29 or LoVo using Student’s t test; C: Human colon cancer cells, HT-29, LoVo and SW480 invading through the Matrigel were counted under a microscope in ten random fields at × 400 magnification. ^eP < 0.05 vs LoVo or SW480 using Student’s t test.