Figure 5

MMP12 promotes cell migration and invasion in NPC-TW02 cells. (A) MMP12 mRNA expression was detected in stable NPC-TW02 cells of MMP12-knockdown (KD1 and KD2) and control (LacZ) by quantitative RT-PCR, and MMP12 protein levels in the culture supernatant were examined by Western blotting. PGK1 protein levels were used as the loading control for secreted proteins. Cell migration (B) and invasion (C) assays were performed in stable NPC-TW02 cells of MMP12-knockdown (KD1 and KD2) and control (LacZ). Images were captured at 24 h under 12.5× magnification. The relative fold-change in the number of migrated cells is shown, with the results from control cells given as 1.0. All data are presented as the mean ± SD from three independent experiments. *P < 0.05. (D) Cell growth in stable NPC-TW02 cells of MMP12-knockdown (KD1 and KD2) and control (LacZ) was determined by counting the cell numbers for 4 days.