Fig. 2. Hepatocyte-specific WWOX ablation accelerates HCC development.

a Validation of WWOX depletion in Wwox^ΔHep (cKO: conditional knockout) mice using qRT-PCR; n = 3 for each mouse group. Error bars indicate ± SEM. b Validation of WWOX protein ablation by immunoblotting using WWOX antibody; HSP90 was used as loading control. c DEN treatment plan: DEN was IP injected to control and Wwox^ΔHep mice at the age of 14 days and mice were analyzed at the age of 10 months. d χ² analysis of macroscopic tumor incidence in control mice versus Wwox^ΔHep mice treated with DEN. e Tumor load analysis represented by liver weight of control mice (n = 15) versus Wwox^ΔHep cKO mice (n = 14) after 10 months of DEN treatment. f Serum ALTL levels of control mice (n = 6) versus Wwox^ΔHep mice (n = 6) after 10 months of DEN injection. g Representative pictures of control and Wwox^ΔHep livers of two male littermates (upper). Histological images showing liver sections of 10 months DEN-treated control and Wwox^ΔHep mice (lower panel) h Histological images (× 10, × 20, and × 40) of 10 months DEN-treated mice. * indicates P value < 0.05, ** P value < 0.01, *** P value < 0.001. Error bars indicate ± SEM