Fig. 5

Transplantation of hAFMSCs suppresses the growth of tumors in an orthotopic xenograft mouse model. A Schematic procedure of incision location and orthotopic injection of pancreatic cancer cells (left panel). The macroscopic appearance of pulp filled with orthotopic tumors within the pancreatic tail (middle panel) and after excision (right panel), where the small module indicates the injection site. Four weeks after orthotopic injections of PANC-1 cells, mice randomly received PBS (PBS group) or hAFMSCs (hAFMSC group). B (left panel) Eight weeks after hAFMSCs transplantation, tumors disassociated from the pancreas (scale bar = 1 cm), B (right panel) tumor volumes were quantified and measured and tumor volume was calculated using the following formula: 1/2 × length × width × depth. C Immunohistochemistry staining for Ki67 in the pancreatic tumor site. Scale bar = 100 μm. The area of the Ki67-positive signal (brown) was calculated in 3 fields from three independent experiments and it is represented as the percentage (%) of the positive area. The results are shown as the mean ± SD of 3 independent experiments. **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001 versus the PBS group by Student’s t-test. D Serum MMP7 levels were detected by ELISA 3 months after tumor cell implantation. Control indicates mice without orthotopic xenograft surgery. The results are shown as the mean ± SD of 3 independent experiments. One-way ANOVA was used. *P < 0.05 versus PBS, ^#P < 0.05 versus control