Fig 2: XIAP induced EMT by targeting TGF-β signal pathway in ESCC cells. a Western blotting was used to detect the expression of TGF-β in TE13 and EC9706 cells. b Microscopic pictures of Transwell assay for cell migration (×200). c Statistical chart of the number of migrated TE13 and EC9706 cells (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01). d Expression of EMT genes was detected by qRT-PCR (**p < 0.01 versus sh-Ctrl group; #p < 0.01 versus sh-XIAP group). e Western-blot was used to detect the expression of E-cadherin, N-cadherin and Vimentin with or without TGF-β

Fig 3: High expression of XIAP predicted poor prognosis in ESCC patients. a Low XIAP expression was seen in 115/185 (upper left ×200), and high in 70/185 of ESCC tissues (upper right ×200) by using IHC staining. b Estimated overall survival according to the expression of XIAP in 185 cases of ESCC, Kaplan–Meier method showed that ESCC patients in the high XIAP expression group had poorer overall survival than those in the low XIAP expression group (p = 0.004)

Fig 4: XIAP led EMT of ESCC cells. a E-cadherin, N-cadherin and Vimentin expression was performed by immunofluorescent staining, nuclei were counterstained with DAPI (×200) in TE13 cells. b E-cadherin, N-cadherin and Vimentin expression was performed by immunofluorescent staining, nuclei were counterstained with DAPI (×200) in EC9706 cells. c qRT-PCR was used to detect changes in expression of EMT genes in TE13 and EC9706 cells, results presented represent mean ± SD (n = 3) (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01). d Western blotting was used to detect the expression of E-cadherin, N-cadherin and Vimentin in TE13 and EC9706 cells

Fig 5: XIAP was essential for promoting EC9706 cell lung metastasis and EMT in vivo. a Representative images of the lungs and lung surface metastatic foci as indicated were shown in sh-Ctrl and sh-XIAP groups. b The lung metastatic tumor numbers of sh-Ctrl and sh-XIAP groups (*p < 0.05). c qRT-PCR was used to detect changes in expression of EMT genes in lung metastatic tumors, results presented represent mean ± SD (n = 3) (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01)