Effects of miR-126/126* of cytokine/chemokine expression in tumor-derived 4T1 cells

In order to test the effects of metastasis suppressive miR-126/126* on primary tumor microenvironment, we designed a real-time PCR-based mouse cytokine/chemokine array containing 95 cytokines/chemokines and their receptors. Considering the possibility that production of cytokines/chemokines may be dependent on the interactions among different cell types within the tumor mass, we inoculated GFP-labeled 4T1 cells with a control vector or 4T1 cells with pri-miR-126 overexpression into the fat pad of BALB/c mice. 10 days later, we harvested the primary tumors, isolated GFP-positive cancer cells, and analyzed the expression levels of different cytokines/chemokines and their receptors in the cancer cells at the mRNA level using the cytokine array. qPCR gene expression profiling. Equal amount total RNA from each cell line was pooled prior to gene expression analysis.