Figure 1.

TGF-β suppresses the cytotoxic effect of sorafenib in hepatoma cells. A. Cell were treated with sorafenib (0-10 μM) for 48 h with or without pre-treatment with growth factors for 48 h. Cell proliferation was examined by WST assay. B. Cells were treated with sorafenib (0-10 μM) for 72 h with or without TGF-β pre-treatment, and the percentage of dead cells was analyzed by trypan blue assays. Representative images show cells treated with sorafenib (10 μM) with or without TGF-β pretreatment of (arrows, dye-positive dead cells). White column, cells under growth factor-free conditions. Experiments were performed in triplicate, and data represent the means ± SD of triplicate experiments (*P<0.05 vs. cells under growth factor-free conditions).