Fig. 3

COMP induces ovarian cancer cells to form larger tumorspheres and a higher cancer stem cells population. Representative images A and length measurements B, C of tumorspheres formed by SKOV3 and OAW42 cells treated with increasing concentrations of COMP or PBS as a control. A minimum of ten spheroids per well was measured. The p-value was calculated by one-way ANOVA followed by Dunnett’s post-test. Scale bar: 100 µm. D The percentage of ALDH-expressing cells was evaluated in ovarian cancer cell lines E SKOV3 and F OAW42 utilizing the ALDEFLUOR assay, both in the presence or absence of COMP (20 μg/ml). ALDH inhibitor, DEAB, was used as a control for background fluorescence. The p-value was calculated by unpaired t-test. The data are representative of at least three independent experiments and graphs depict the mean with the standard deviation. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. (*, **, ***, ****, and ns indicate p < 0.05, p < 0.01, p < 0.001, p < 0.0001, and non-significant, respectively; ALDH: aldehyde dehydrogenase, DEAB: N, N-diethylaminobenzaldehyde)