Fig. 6: Genetic deletion of the miR-200 family triggers the recruitment of stromal cells into the tumor microenvironment.

A Expression of all miR-200 family members in TCGA cohort patients (n = 430). Patients with all miR-200s lower than 75% GC patients were denoted as “miR-200 family down, 200FD”. B Relative abundance of miR-200 family members and those with miR-200s at the bottom 25% in this cohort were shown. Molecular classification of TCGA and Lauren class (left) are depicted. C The PCA comparing the transcriptome of the “200FD” subgroup from TCGA with those molecular subtypes identified in ACRG (GSE62254), showing the most similarity between “200FD” and EMT subtype from ACRG. To validate our in silico analysis, we inoculated subcutaneously mixed parental AGS and A-NTC, A-31 or A-26 inoculated at a 2:1 ratio of cell number in NSG mice. D Immunofluorescent staining for EpCAM (red)/DAPI (blue), α-SMA (green), and Col1a1 (yellow) of sections from xenograft tumors bearing the mixture of cells as indicated. Scale bar, 200 μm. E The tumoral purity and the level of stromal recruitment were determined by the quantification of fluorescent intensity for EpCAM, α-SMA, and Col1a1 from D. Data represent the mean ± SEM of triplicate independent experiments. *p < 0.05, and **p < 0.01.