Figure 2

Phenotypic conversion of C10 cells induced by ERK1-GFP. Panel A: Late passage ERK1-GFP cells exhibit rounded morphology, relative to early passage ERK1-GFP cells and vector controls. Panel B: The proliferation of late passage ERK1-GFP cells (L) is not inhibited by cell-cell contact at confluence, while proliferation of early passage ERK1-GFP cells (E) and vector controls (V) are contact inhibited. *Significantly different from vector control. Values represent the mean ± se (n = 3). Similar results were observed in three independent experiments. Panel C: Late passage cells exhibit a qualitative change in their capacity to grow in soft agar, while vector controls show marginal anchorage-independent growth responses. Methods for the soft agar assay can be found in [20]. Similar results were observed in two independent experiments.