Goosecoid drives colorectal cancer progression by inducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition

Figure 2 Goosecoid knockdown suppresses malignant phenotypes in colorectal cancer cells. A: Western blotting analysis of goosecoid (GSC) expression in control and GSC-knockdown HCT116, HCT8, SW480, and DLD-1 cells; B and C: Colony formation and soft agar assays demonstrating the inhibitory effect of GSC knockdown on proliferative capacity; D: Wound healing assay showing impaired cell migration after GSC silencing. Images were acquired at 0 hour and 48 hours postscratching. Scale bar: 500 μm; E and F: Transwell migration and invasion assays illustrating the suppression of migratory and invasive properties upon GSC knockdown. Scale bar: 100 μm; G: Tube formation assay using HUVECs cultured in conditioned medium from control or GSC-knockdown colorectal cancer cells. Scale bar: 500 μm. All data are the mean ± SD from three independent experiments. ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01, ^cP < 0.001. GSC: Goosecoid.