VEGFR-1 down-regulation inhibited tumor growth and metastasis in a human xenograft model.

<p>(A) Tumor-growth curve. The tumor volume in mice injected with MDA-MB-231 cells expressing VEGFR-1-shRNA was significantly smaller than the control. *<i>P</i><0.05. (B) Immunohistochemical analysis of EMT related regulators in tumor sections. VEGFR-1 down-regulation in xenografts resulted in up-regulation of E-cadherin expression, with down-regulation of N-cadherin and Snail expression. (magnification: 400×). (C) <i>In vivo</i> imaging analysis. Mice treated with MDA-MB-231/shNC (a) had cervical metastasis; however, the mice treated with MDA-MB-231/VEGFR-1 shRNA (b) exhibited no observable metastasis. The reporter used GFP to show the metastasis.