Fig. 2

CAFs and NFs on CRC cell progression. CAFs and NFs were separately co-cultured with LoVo and SW48 cells (a). Cell proliferation was analyzed by CCK-8 (b, c) and clone formation assay (d), cell migration by cell scratch (e), and cell invasion by Transwell (f). qRT-PCR (G-H) and Western blot (i. j) were performed to test the levels of EMT related markers. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, vs NFs group. Transmission electron microscope was applied to observe the secretion of exosomes in CAFs (k). After cells were treated with exosomal inhibitor GW4869, cell proliferation, cell migration, cell invasion and EMT related markers were measured by CCK-8 (l–m) and clone formation assay (n), cell scratch (o), Transwell (p), qRT-PCR (q, r) and Western blot (s, t), respectively. N = 3, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 vs DMSO-CAFs group; CAFs cancer-associated fibroblasts, NFs normal fibroblasts, CRC colorectal cancer, EMT epithelial mesenchymal transformation