Figure 3.

GDC-0449 has no effect on tumour cell growth in vitro but reduces Hh target gene expression in HCC cell lines.

(a) Western blotting demonstrated that the transcription factors of the Hh pathway Gli1 and Gli2 are expressed in Huh-7 and MH cells. The expression of Gli1 and Gli2 in the nucleus indicated the nuclear translocation of these proteins, which represented a surrogate for active hedgehog signalling in these cell lines. (b, c) In Huh-7 and MH cells, treatment with GDC-0449 significantly reduced mRNA expression of the hedgehog target gene Gli1 (B) but had no effect on cell viability in vitro (c). *p < 0.05 vs. DMSO-treated controls.