Tumor-derived exosomal miR-425-5p and miR-135b-3p enhance colorectal cancer progression through immune suppression and vascular permeability promotion

Figure 3 Exosomal miR-135b-3p enhances vascular permeability and angiogenesis in endothelial cells. A: Representative images and branch points of microscopic observation of angiogenesis in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) cultured with exosomes from HCT116 cells transfected with miR-135b-3p inhibitor or negative control; B: Representative images and invaded cells of cell invasion assay; C: Permeability of the HUVEC monolayers to rhodamine–dextran (70 kDa) after exposure to exosomes for 72 hours; D: Representative images of the aortic ring and numbers of microvascular sprouts; E: Western blot analysis of tight junction proteins zonula occludens-1, occludin, and claudin-5 in HUVECs treated with exosomes; GAPDH as an internal control; F: Immunofluorescent staining of tight junction proteins zonula occludens-1, occludin, and claudin-5 (green) in HUVECs treated with DAPI nuclei (blue). ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01 vs negative control-exosome (n = 3 per group). NC-exo: Negative control-exosome; ZO-1: Zonula occludens-1.