Fig. 6: RBs decrease EMT and invasiveness of CSCs.

a Ligand–receptor pair mediating signalling between CSCs and non-CSCs. b Paracrine signalling between CSCs (C1) and other cell types in PDAC patient primary tumours. c Expression of FZD receptors in A13A non-CSCs, A13A CSCs and H9 hESCs based on RNA-seq data. d Relative expression of FZD receptors in A13A non-CSCs compared to stellate cells based on qPCR. e, f Conditioned media from OE RB cells leads to slower CAF proliferation while conditioned media from RB KD cells increases CAF proliferation. Scale bar 50 µm. g Schematic depiction of 3D co-cultures of PDAC cells and stromal fibroblasts in a matrix. h Effects of OE E2Fs, OE RBs and RB KDs in PDAC cells on stellate cell numbers in co-culture conditions in patient-derived organoids. i Effects of OE E2Fs, OE RBs and RB KDs in PDAC cells on β-catenin dependent promoter-luciferase activity in co-culture in patient-derived organoids. Data are presented as mean values ± SD. Graphs depicted in (c, d, e, h, i) are n = 3 independent experiments. Statistical analysis in (c, d, e, h, i) was performed by 2-way ANOVA with multiple comparisons with Tukey correction. j Effects of OE E2Fs, OE RBs, and RB KDs on the relative number of CSCs in co-culture conditions in patient-derived organoids. Data are presented as mean values ± SD. N = 3 independent experiments. Statistical analysis in (j) was performed by 1-way ANOVA with Dunnett’s multiple comparisons test. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.