Research Paper Volume 12, Issue 16 pp 16270—16293

Figure 2. Upregulation of CTCF promotes human CRC cells proliferation. (A) GSEA plot indicated that high expression of CTCF is positively correlated with the cell cycle gene set signatures (KEGG_CELL_CYCLE) in published CRC patient gene expression profiles (GSE17538, n = 177, and TCGA, n = 465). (B, C) qRT-PCR and western blot analyses of CTCF expression level in constructed cell lines (HCT116 and RKO).(D, E) The relative growth rates were measured using CCK8 and colony formation assays and compared between CTCF overexpressed group and Vector group at indicated times in HCT116 and RKO cell lines. (F) Images of EdU staining in both indicated cell lines, and the relative percentage of EdU-positive cells in images of related groups are shown (G). (H, I) Tumor volume and weight were measured and analyzed. (J) The tumor sections were under IHC staining using antibody against Ki-67. The above data are presented as mean ± SEM. * P<0.05, **P<0.01, and ***P<0.001.