FIGURE 3 from Small Extracellular Vesicles Promote Stiffness-mediated Metastasis

Stiff EVs show increased biodistribution and retention in vivo.A, Schematic of EV isolation and staining prior to tail-vein injection of 10 µg of EVs in nude mice. NIR imaging (B) and mean SNR (C) of MDA-MB-231 vesicle biodistribution in dorsal, left, ventral, and right sides (mean ± SEM). Signal intensity is in arbitrary units (a.u.). Three mice in 0.5 kPa condition, and four in 25 kPa condition; one-way ANOVA. NIR imaging (D) and mean SNR biodistribution (E) in the lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, and bone/bone marrow (mean ± SEM). Signal intensity is in arbitrary units (a.u.). Three mice in MDA-MB-231 0.5 kPa condition and four in 25 kPa condition; one-way ANOVA. F, MDA-MB-231 EV binding assay to ECM proteins collagen type I, collagen type IV, and laminin (mean ± SEM). Three biological repeats for collagen type I and collagen type IV; five for laminin. Paired t test.