Figure 3
Identification of cancer stem cells in SASVO3. (A) Analysis of the tumor spheres generated by SASVO3 and SAS-GFP. The sizes (left panel) and numbers (right panel) of the tumor spheres formed by SAS-GFP and SASVO3 cells were analyzed by the sphere culture method as described in the Materials and Methods. Data shown are the means ± SD from three independent experiments. ***, indicates p < 0.001 when analyzed with unpaired t-test. (B) The flow cytometric profiles of side population (SP) cells that exclude Hoechst 33342 dye in SAS-GFP (left) and SASVO3 (right). The SP cells profiles in the presence of 50 g/mL verapmil are depicted at the bottom. The area containing SP cells is marked and shown as percentage of the total cells in the inset. The result is from one of three similar experiments. (C) Tumor-initiating ability of SAS-GFP and SASVO3 in the nude mice xenograft transplant model. The picture shown on the upper panel is from mice injected with 1 × 103 cells for 28 days.