Research Paper Volume 13, Issue 10 pp 14433—14455

Chronic alcohol exposure promotes HCC stemness and metastasis through β-catenin/miR-22-3p/TET2 axis

class="figure-viewer-img"

Figure 5. Effects of TET2 on stemness and metastasis of HCC cells. (A) Tumorspheres formation ability of HCC cells in control, negative-control, TET2 Knockout (KO) and TET2 Activation (ACT) groups. (B) The tumorspheres were quantified. *P< 0.05. (C, D) Population of EPCAM- positive HCC cells in control, negative-control, TET2 Knockout (KO) and TET2 Activation (ACT) groups. *P< 0.05. (E, F) Population of CD133-positive HCC cells in control, negative-control, TET2 Knockout (KO) and TET2 Activation (ACT) groups. *P< 0.05. (G) The representative images of tumors taken from athymic mice inoculated with SMMC-7721 cells in control, negative-control, TET2 Knockout (KO) and TET2 Activation (ACT) groups are shown. (H) The growth of tumor was calculated. Each group consisted of five mice. *P< 0.05. (I) The tumor weight was quantified. Each group consisted of five mice. *P< 0.05. (J) Representative images showing the migration of HCC cells in control, negative-control, TET2 Knockout (KO) and TET2 Activation (ACT) groups. (K) The migrated cells were quantified. *P< 0.05, n= 3. (L) Representative image showing the invasion of HCC cells in control, negative-control, TET2 Knockout (KO) and TET2 Activation (ACT) groups. (M) The invaded cells were quantified. *P< 0.05, n= 3.