Fig. 3

NC decreases the CSCs-like properties of breast cancer cells. NC inhibited mammosphere formation of MDA-MB-468 (a) and MCF-7 (b) cell lines. NC reduced the number of mammospheres after 7 days of treatment. Smaller sizes of mammospheres were observed in comparison with control. Representative images of spheres were shown above. The MDA-MB-468 and MCF-7 cells were treated with increasing concentrations of NC (0, 1.0 to 2.5 μM) for 48 h. c flow cytometry was used to detect cell surface markers. A set of representative flow cytometry plots was shown above. e NC significantly suppressed the number of both cells expressing CD44⁺/CD24^−/low in a dose-dependent manner. d The expressions of CD44 were observed by western blotting. f The expressions of Oct-4, Nestin, and Nanog were determined by real-time PCR with GAPDH as a loading control. Experiments were independently repeated at least three times