DNA methyltransferase 1/miR-342-3p/Forkhead box M1 signaling axis promotes self-renewal in cervical cancer stem-like cells in vitro and nude mice models

Figure 1 Comparing the self-renewal related stemness between HeLa cells and corresponding cervical cancer stem cell-like cells. A and B: Representative images of spheres (A) and colonies (B) (left) (scale bars = 100 μm); sphere formation efficiency and colony formation efficiency (right) in HeLa cells and their cervical cancer stem cell-like cells (CCSLCs); C: Expression levels of CD133 and CD49f in HeLa cells and their CCSLCs; D: SRY-box transcription factor 2 (SOX2) and octamer-binding transcription factor 4 (OCT4) mRNA levels in HeLa cells and their CCSLCs; E: In vivo carcinogenicity between HeLa cells and their CCSLCs in the nude mice xenograft model, including the weight of xenograft tumors harvested from nude mice (upper right), growth curves of tumor xenografts (bottom left), and tumor initiated cell frequency (bottom right); F: Histology, expression of DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1), forkhead box M1 (FOXM1), and CD133 proteins and microRNA (miR)-342-3p (scale bars = 50 μm). Data were obtained from xenografts at 5 inoculation sites (n = 5) per group. ^aP < 0.05 vs HeLa cells (n = 3). TICf: Tumor initiated cell frequency; H&E: Hematoxylin and eosin; IHC: Immunohistochemistry.