Figure 5.

Overexpression of miR-122 reduces the stemness and chemoresistance by downregulating SENP1/β-catenin in liver cancer in vivo. The xenograft formation was tested at four dilutions (5×10², 5×10³, 5×10⁴ and 5×10⁵ cells) of HepG2 cells transfected with Agomir NC or Agomir-122. (A) The tumor formation rate was recorded to calculate the confidence intervals for cancer stem cell frequency by extreme limiting dilution analysis. (B) Plot of the log fraction as a function of the implanted HepG2 cell number. The more vertical the line, the higher the percentage of the tumor-initiating cells. HepG2 cells stably transfected with either Agomir NC or Agomir-122 were subcutaneously injected into mice to establish in vivo models, and mice were treated with DOX or saline twice a week. (C) Tumor volume was recorded every 3 days for 18 days, 1 week after inoculation. (D) Representative images of tumors formed in each group. (E) Tumor weight in each group. (F) Expression levels of miR-122 in the xenografts were detected by RT-qPCR. (G) The expression levels of SENP1 and β-catenin in the xenografts were detected by western blotting. *P<0.05 and ***P<0.001 vs. Agomir NC + saline; ^#P<0.05, ^##P<0.005 and ^###P<0.001 vs. the Agomir-122 + saline group. DOX, doxorubicin; SENP1, sentrin-specific protease 1; NC, negative control.