Research Paper Volume 15, Issue 10 pp 4304—4318
Integrated network findings reveal ubiquitin-specific protease 44 overexpression suppresses tumorigenicity of liver cancer
Figure 4. USP44 overexpression reduced proliferation and induced apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. (A) Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) demonstrated induction of apoptosis-related and reduction of cell proliferation-related diseases and functions caused by USP44 overexpression in HepG2 HCC cells. A positive z score represents activation; a negative z score represents inhibition. (B) IPA gene network construction shows how the functional role of USP44 in HCC involves receptors, enzymes, cytokines, kinases, phosphatases, and transcription factors. Red diagrams = upregulated genes; green diagrams = downregulated genes; orange arrows = activation; and blue arrows = inhibition. (C) qPCR analysis was used to validate the differential gene expression obtained from transcriptome sequencing.