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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Nov 1.
Published in final edited form as: Hepatology. 2010 Nov;52(5):1680–1689. doi: 10.1002/hep.23848

Figure 6. SULF2 up-regulates GPC3 and Wnt3a and promotes tumor growth in HCC nude mouse xenografts mainly through increased cell proliferation.

Figure 6

Hep3B Vector and Hep3B SULF2-H clones were subcutaneously inoculated into the flanks of ten nude mice. SULF2 significantly enhanced tumor growth in vivo (11). (A) Successive sections from paraffin-embedded xenografts from Hep3B Vector (upper panel) and Hep3B SULF2-H cells (lower panel) were immunostained with antibodies against SULF2, GPC3 and Wnt3a respectively; nuclei were counterstained with hematoxylin. SULF2 expression was associated with increases in tumor cell GPC3, Wnt3a, and β-catenin. (B) Ki-67 staining from Hep3B SULF2-derived xenografts compared with Hep3B Vector. Xenografts from Hep3 SULF2 cells showed smaller sized but increased number of brown-staining proliferative cells (arrows) (magnification ×200). (C) Graph quantitating increased cell proliferation in Hep3B SULF2-derived xenografts as compared to Hep3B Vector xenografts (average of 6 high power fields).