Figure 2. Increased activation of ERK1/2 is associated with increased OSCC aggressiveness.
A. Western blots of MOC1/2/7/10 for phospho-NFκB, NFκB, phospho-AKT, AKT, EGFR, TGFβIIR, and β-actin. STAT3 and phospho-STAT3 were visualized by immunoprecipation and Western blotting. Note in the experiment shown MOC7 had less total STAT3 immunoprecipitated, but in repeat experiments it was found to express similar amounts of STAT3 when compared with the other cell lines (data not shown). B. Western blot of p-ERK1/2 and ERK1/2 for all 6 MOC lines. C. Representative 20× microscopic image of a Transwell migration assay of MOC2 cells treated with vehicle control (DMSO) or U0126 (10μM). D. Quantitation of Transwell migration assay where 4 random sections per filter × 3 filters were counted in a blinded fashion by light microscopy at 20× magnification for both MOC1 and MOC2 cells treated with vehicle or U0126 (***=p<0.001). The percentage decrease relative to vehicle treatment is indicated above the bar graph.