Increased Metastasis of CRC Cells with Overexpressed CCR6 in vivo.

(A) Number of metastatic nodules (indicated by white arrows) formed in the liver of BALB/c nude mice 5 weeks after spleen injection of HCT116^Ctr (upper panel) or HCT116^CCR6 (lower panel) cells (six mice per group). (B) In vivo metastasis assays of Luc-HCT116^Ctr and Luc-HCT116^CCR6 cells by tail vein injection. The whole body metastasis burden of xenografted animals was monitored at 6 weeks after CRC cell injection using the IVIS Imaging System. Statistical analysis of luciferase intensity from mice injected with Luc-HCT116^Ctr or Luc-HCT116^CCR6 cells was shown in the right panel. (C) Representative images of H&E staining of lungs prepared from mice injected with Luc-HCT116^Ctr or Luc-HCT116^CCR6 cells at ×5 (left panel) and ×10 (right panel) magnification. Statistical analysis of the number or mitosis by mm² in each metastatic nodule in the five lung H&E staining from mice injected with Luc-HCT116^Ctr or Luc-HCT116^CCR6 cells was shown in the right panel. *p<0.05, **p<0.01, U-mann whitney test.