Fig. 5

Exosomes shuttle ZFAS1 down-regulates miR-124 and upregulates STAT3 to promote the proliferation, migration and invasion of ESCC cells, and inhibiting the apoptosis. a: Proliferation of cells using EdU assay. b: Detection of apoptosis in each group by flow cytometry. c: Migration of cells using scratch test. d: Invasion of cells using Transwell assay. e: Expression of miR-124 and STAT3 in exosomes and receptor cells after overexpression of ZFAS1-exo or low expression of miR-124-exo. The Oe-NC-exo group: donor Eca109 cells transfected with Oe-ZFAS1 plasmid NC labeled by Cy3 was co-cultured with recipient Eca109 cells; the Oe-ZFAS1-exo group: donor Eca109 cells transfected with Oe-ZFAS1 plasmid labeled by Cy3 was co-cultured with recipient Eca109 cells; the sh-NC-exo group: donor Eca109 cells transfected with sh-ZFAS1 plasmid NC labeled by Cy3 was co-cultured with recipient Eca109 cells; the sh-ZFAS1-exo group: donor Eca109 cells transfected with sh-ZFAS1 plasmid labeled by Cy3 was co-cultured with recipient Eca109 cells; the inhibitor NC-exo group: donor Eca109 cells transfected with miR-124 inhibitor NC labeled by Cy3 was co-cultured with recipient Eca109 cells; the miR-124 inhibitor-exo group: donor Eca109 cells transfected with miR-124 inhibitor labeled by Cy3 was co-cultured with recipient Eca109 cells. * p < 0.05. Measurement data were depicted as mean ± standard deviation, comparisons between two groups were conducted by independent sample t-test, and comparisons among multiple groups were assessed by one-way analysis of variance followed by Tukey’s post hoc test; Repetitions = 3 in cellular experiment