Fig. 1

Fibronectin assembly on the membrane correlates with miR-146a expression and ESCC cell migration. a Fibronectin assembling on cell membrane was shown by FITC conjugated anti-fibronectin antibody under fluorescent microscope (×400, red arrow). b The fluorescence signals from CE81^FN− and CE81^FN+ cells merged by flow cytometry software. The pericellular FN (periFN) in CE81^FN− and CE81^FN+ cells were quantified and represented as indicated. c The expression level of miR-146a in CE81^FN− and CE81^FN+ cells were evaluated by real-time PCR. The data were analyzed by ΔCT method and the relative expression fold was normalized to the internal control U54 gene expression. d The migration ability of CE81^FN− and CE81^FN+ cells was investigated using Transwell™ migration assay at 48 h after seeding of cells (10⁶ cells/well). Scale bar: 100 μm. The migrated cell number was counted by Image J software. P values were obtained by Student’s t. test. Statistically significant difference was indicated (*P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001)