Fig. 4

Succinate promotes the EMT process through activation of STAT3/p-STAT3. Treatment of the colorectal cancer cell lines SW480 and HCT116 for 48 h with 2 mM succinate and simultaneous inhibition of STAT3 phosphorylation by HO-3867 confirmed that succinate promotes the EMT process through activation of STAT3/p-STAT3. (A-C) Protein expression of the EMT markers E-cadherin, N-cadherin, Vimentin, and Slug was assessed by western blot analysis. (D, E) The mRNA expression of the EMT-related markers E-cadherin, N-cadherin, Vimentin and Slug was assessed by qRT‒PCR and analyzed by 2-ΔΔCT. ^*p < 0.05, ^**p < 0.01, ^***p < 0.001 compared to the controls