Figure 1.

Expression of Aurora kinase B (AURKB) in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines and HCC patients. (a) Protein levels of Aurora B and alpha‐tubulin (control) in HCC cell lines were examined using standard Western blot analysis on 10% sodium dodecyl sulfate – polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. All cell lines indicated Aurora B (41 kDa). (b) TaqMan^® MGB probe Gene Expression Assays for AURKB, Quantitative polymerase change reaction (PCR) was performed using the TaqMan Fast Universal PCR master mix 2× and normalized for sample variation by glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). (c) All changes determined by reverse transcription – PCR were statistically significant and consistent with the direction of change reported by the microarray analysis. The relative expression P‐values were tested for significance using Wilcoxon rank sum test. (N; non‐tumor, T; tumor, VP (+); portal vein positive, VP (–); portal vein negative).