Fig. 1

Snail down-regulates TEL2 at the mRNA and protein levels in NPC cells. a Levels of Snail mRNA in the indicated tissues. P, NPC primary tissues (n = 10); L, metastatic tumor tissues in lymph nodes (n = 4). Bars indicate SD. *P < 0.05. b, c Cells were stably transfected with empty vector or Snail-encoding plasmid, and levels of TEL2 and E-cadherin mRNA were measured using qRT-PCR. Data are mean ± SEM of triplicate samples. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. d Cells were stably transfected with empty vector or Snail-encoding plasmid, and levels of TEL2 and E-cadherin protein were analyzed by Western blot. e, f In cells stably transfected with plasmids expressing anti-Snail shRNA or scrambled control shRNA (#1, #2), levels of TEL2 and E-cadherin mRNA were analyzed using qRT-PCR. Data are mean ± SEM of triplicate samples. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. Knockdown of Snail at the protein level was confirmed in S18 and 5-8F cells by Western blot