Fig. 7

Effect of IL-1RA expression on in vivo tumor growth of OSCC in xenograft mice and the therapeutic potential of metformin. A Orthotopic xenograft of OECM-1 cells with overexpression of IL-1RA or control cells in mice was measured weekly by in vivo imaging system (IVIS) for the groups treated with or without metformin and/or CDDP. The data shown in (A) were the measurements at endpoint of the experiment before sacrifice of the mice. B After sacrifice of the mice at endpoint of the experiment, the xenograft tumors were collected and tumor weight was measured. C–G After sacrifice of the mice at endpoint of the experiment, the xenograft tumors were collected and analyzed for protein expression of IL-1RA (C), Ki67 (D), phosphorylated EGFR (E), phosphorylated JNK (F), and SOX2 (G). Data were presented as mean ± SD from five mice in each group. *, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01; ***, p < 0.001. CDDP, cisplatin; p-EGFR, phosphorylated EGFR; p-JNK, phosphorylated JNK; EV, empty vector; IL-1RA-OE, overexpression of IL-1RA