Fig. 5.

Overexpression of chemerin decreases metastases of HCC cells. a Left, metastatic capability of luciferase-labelled PVTT-1 con and chemerin-overexpressing PVTT-1 che cells is examined using left ventricular injection model. Images obtained at indicated time points are shown. Right, mean value of photon counts in PVTT-1 con group and PVTT-1 che group. The data are expressed as mean (±s.e.m.), and are representative of at least two independent experiments, n = 8, *p = 0.0272 for PVTT-1 che vs. PVTT-1 con group at the 4th week, Unpaired t test with Welch correction. b Left, representative images of the mice intrahepatically injected with luciferase-labelled PVTT-1 con or PVTT-1 che cells. Right, survival curves for the mice in PVTT-1 con and PVTT-1 che group. c Representative photos of livers (left) and H&E stained liver tissue sections (right) of mice from PVTT-1 con and PVTT-1 che group receiving intrahepatic injection. Foci at injection sites are indicated by arrow, and metastatic foci are indicated by arrowhead. Scale bar = 100 µm. Number of superficial tumour foci on the injected (d) and uninjected lobes (e) of PVTT-1 con and PVTT-1 che group. The data are expressed as mean (±s.e.m.), n = 8 mice per group, p < 0.001 for both injected lobes and uninjected lobes, Mann–Whitney test. f Representative immunohistochemical staining for p-Akt (Ser473) and PTEN of the same foci (indicated by arrows), and MMP1 of different foci on sequential liver tissue sections of the mice in PVTT-1 con and PVTT-1 che group