Fig 7.

Twist is involved in cell motility and invasion potentials if HCC stem cells. (A) Light microscopy was used to document morphologic differences between the Twist and control siRNA treated N-LSC, HepG2 and HSCs. HSCs displayed an aggressive phenotype, which became elongated, and forming the leading edge pseudopodia. Silencing Twist in HSCs significantly reduced the percentage of cells with invasive phenotypes. (B) Matrigel invasion assay showing the invading capability of normal and malignant liver stem cells with and without Twist silencing. (C, D) Cell migration and invasion was assessed in Oct-4⁺CD133⁺ and Oct-4⁻CD133⁻ cells with or without Twist silencing. Cell migration was expressed as arbitrary fluorescence units. Cell invasion was assessed in 96-well plates pre-coated with extracellular matrix. RFU is the absolute florescence intensity value and FI is the florescence intensity after normalization with the standard curve. The mean and standard error from four separate experiments are illustrated. ^#P < 0.05 when compare with HepG2 and N-LSC groups. *P < 0.05 when compared with siRNA controls.