Table 3. The tumor formation of distinct typed cells in nude mice.
| Cell subpopulations | Tumor incidence | Tumor diameter | Metastasis incidence |
| SP-HCCs (1×107) | 4/4 | +++ | 4/4 |
| SP-HCCs (1×106) | 4/4 | ++ | 4/4 |
| SP-HCCs (1×105) | 4/4 | ++ | 4/4 |
| SP-HCCs (1×104) | 4/4 | + | 4/4 |
| NSP-HCCs (1×107)a | 4/4 | ++ | 0/4 |
| NSP-HCCs (1×106)b | 3/4 | + | 0/4 |
| NSP-HCCs (1×105)c | 2/4 | + | 0/4 |
| NSP-HCCs (1×104)d | 0/4 | − | 0/4 |
“Tumor incidence” indicates the average incidence of tumors in each mice (4 mice in each group, 4/4 means 4 tumors in 4 injection sites). “Tumor diameter” refers to the average diameter of tumors in each group (−, no macroscopic tumor; +, <0.2 cm; ++, 0.2–0.5 cm; +++, >0.5 cm). “Metastasis incidence” means the average incidence of the liver neoplasia appeared in each group (4/4 means 4 liver neoplasias found in 4 mice). All results were independently viewed by three different researchers.
a–d
NSP-HCCs vs. SP-HCCs (the same number), P<0.01.