Fig 2: Mechanisms of the role of KIF22 in the progression of bladder cancer. KIF22 transcriptionally activates CDCA3, therefore stimulates cell cycle and cell proliferation. KIF22, kinesin family member 22; cell division cycle-associated protein 3.

Fig 3: KIF22 promotes bladder tumor growth in mice. (A) Representative images of tumors in nude mice formed by T24 cells transfected with shControl and shKIF22 lentivirus (n=8 in each group). (B) Tumor volume was measured and growth curves are presented. (C) Western blot analysis revealed the expression of KIF22 in the control and KIF22-silenced tumor tissues. (D) Immunohistochemistry revealed the expression of KIF22 in the tumor tissues from mice injected with control and KIF22-silenced cells. The results are presented as the mean ± SEM; *P<0.05 and **P<0.01, compared with the shControl. KIF22, kinesin family member 22.

Fig 4: KIF22 expression is efficiently blocked by KIF22 shRNA in both T24 and 5637 cells. (A) Results of reverse transcription-quantitative PCR revealed that KIF22 expression was efficiently knocked down in T24 and 5637 cells caused by transfection with KIF22 shRNA plasmids. (B) Western blot analysis illustrating that KIF22 expression was markedly decreased in KIF22-shRNA transfected T24 and 5637 cells. The experiments were repeated three times. The results are presented as the mean ± SEM; *P<0.05 and **P<0.01, compared with the shControl. KIF22, kinesin family member 22.

Fig 5: KIF22 is associated with the prognosis of patients with bladder cancer. (A) Left panel, representative images of KIF22 expression detected by immunohistochemistry in bladder cancer tissues (×100 and ×200 magnification). Right panel, immunohistochemical staining of KIF22 protein in normal adjacent tissues (×100 and ×200 magnification). (B) Bioinformatics data revealed that KIF22 was highly expressed in human bladder cancer tissues. (C) Kaplan-Meier analysis of the overall survival and disease-free survival rate between the KIF22 low and high expression groups. KIF22, kinesin family member 22.