Fig. 5

HDGF knockdown exerts distinct tumor-suppressive effects in Wnt-inactive HCC cells. A HLE and HepG2 cells were transfected with 10 nM siRNA against HDGF. HDGF expression was analyzed 48 h after siRNA transfection by qRT-PCR. Results were normalized to si-control. ***p < 0.001; one-way ANOVA with Dunnett’s multiple comparisons test. B HDGF and β-catenin protein expression was determined 48 h after siRNA transfection by western blotting with cofilin as loading control. Densitometric analysis of western blot assays is shown in Additional file 1: Fig. S9C. C HLE and HepG2 cells were transfected with 10 nM siRNA. Cell viability was analyzed by WST-1 assay and normalized to si-control (dotted line). Apoptosis was analyzed by Caspase 3/7 assay and normalized to cell viability and si-control (dotted line). *p < 0.05; two-way ANOVA with Dunnett’s multiple comparisons test. D Migration capacity of HLE cells was analyzed by transwell assay. **p < 0.01; one-way ANOVA with Dunnett’s multiple comparisons test; Scale bar = 200.00 µm. E HLE and HepG2 cells were transfected with 10 nM siRNA against HDGF. 48 h after transfection, protein expression of p-ERK1/2 and ERK1/2 was analyzed by western blotting with α-actinin as loading control. Gels were processed in parallel. Densitometric analysis of western blot assays is shown in Additional file 1: Fig. S9D