Animal experiments

All mouse studies were conducted according to a protocol approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) at Rockefeller University. Intravenous injections of cancer cells were performed on age-matched (4- to 6-wk-old) female NOD-Scid mice. Metastatic lung colonization was monitored by in vivo bioluminescence imaging and measuring photon flux in the region of interest. In vivo tumor growth assays were performed by injecting 5 × 10⁵ cancer cells with 100 μL of Matrigel into bilateral mammary fat pads of NOD-Scid mice. Tumor volume was assessed by caliper measurements. Two-way ANOVA was used to assess significance of the metastatic colonization assays, and a Student's two-tailed t-test was used to assess significance of the tumor volume measurements.