Figure 8.

HRG deletion affects apoptosis but not proliferation. WB analysis for proCASP3 and cleaved CASP3 (A), PCNA (B), c-MYC (C), and YAP (D) performed in HCCs from wild-type mice (WT) or from HRG knock-out mice (HRG^–/–). BIORAD Quantity One software was used to perform the densitometric analysis (data are expressed as fold change relative to the normalized WT expression). Equal loading was evaluated by re-probing membranes for β-actin (A, B, D) or vinculin (C). Statistical differences were assessed by Student’s t-test or Mann–Whitney test for non-parametric values (A–D). qPCR analysis of Ki67 transcripts performed in HCC tumor masses from 12 WT mice or from 11 HRG^–/– mice (E). The mRNA values are expressed as fold increase over control values after normalization to the TBP gene expression. The results are expressed as means ± SD. The boxes include the values within the 25th and 75th percentile, whereas the horizontal bars represent the medians. The extremities of the vertical bars (10th–90th percentile) comprise 80% of the values. Statistical differences were assessed by Student’s t-test or Mann–Whitney test for non-parametric values (E). ns, not significant.