Fig. 4
Role of stem cell-like cells in sorafenib resistance. (a), Oncosphere-forming assays in parental HCC cells. (b), CCK-8 assays in oncosphere and parental cells treated with indicated doses of sorafenib for 72 h. The data represent two independent experiments with 8 repeats in total. (c), Oncosphere-forming assays in parental and resistant HCC cells. (d), qPCR measuring the RNA expression of DNMTs and TETs in oncosphere and parental cells. (e), Western blot for the protein expression of DNMT3a and TET2 in oncosphere and parental cells. (f), SorafenibR Hep3b and Huh7 cells were infected with DNMT3a or TET2 shRNA or control viruses, and selected by 2 µg/ml puromycin for 5 days. Then these cells were subjected to oncosphere-forming assays. (g), qPCR for RNA expression of stem cell markers in oncosphere and parental cells. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ns, not significant