Cadherin 6 drives epithelial-mesenchymal transition and oxaliplatin resistance in gastric cancer via transforming growth factor-β/Smad signaling axis

Figure 4 Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. Key genes and proteins involved in the transforming growth factor-β signaling pathway and epithelial-mesenchymal transition were analyzed in the cadherin 6-overexpression and control groups. A: Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction; B: Western blotting showed increased expression of TβRI, Smad2 (total Smad2) and phosphorylated Smad2 levels in the cadherin 6-overexpression group (pathway activated), decreased expression of epithelial markers (E-cadherin and zonula occludens-1), and increased expression of mesenchymal markers (N-cadherin, vimentin, and α-smooth muscle actin). Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase was used as the normalization control. ^bP < 0.01, ^cP < 0.001. CDH6: Cadherin 6; OE-CDH6: Cadherin 6-overexpression; ZO-1: Zonula occludens-1; p-Smad2: Phosphorylated Smad2; SMA: Smooth muscle actin; GAPDH: Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase.