Fig. 4

Basal gene expression of ‘osteotropic’ and ‘not-osteotropic’ melanoma cells. Real time-PCR analyzed osteotropic (LCP) and not-osteotropic cells (SK-Mel28 and WM-266) in their basal expression of 27 genes involved in the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), chemotaxis and bone metastasis development. Both osteotropic and not-osteotropic cells exhibit an EMT profile as evidenced by the over-expression of N-Cadherin (N-CAD), SNAIL, ZEB, TWIST and MMP. By contrast, genes notoriously described to be implicated in chemotaxis and bone metastasis were apparently down-regulated at baseline in each cell line. Results are expressed as 2^−Δct and bars represent mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01