Fig. 5.

HCC-conditioned TAMs treated with miR-98 regulate migration, invasion and EMT of HepG2 cells. HepG2 cells were cultured and scraped away using a pipette tip. Subsequently, cells were cultured with conditioned medium from TAMs treated with miR-98 mimic, mimic NC, miR-98 inhibitor and inhibitor NC for 48 h. miR-98 mimic significantly suppressed the capacity of HCC-conditioned TAMs to promote HepG2 cell migration (a) and invasion (b) compared with negative control. miR-98 inhibitor significantly enhanced the capacity of HCC-conditioned TAMs to promote HepG2 cell migration (c) and invasion (d) compared with negative control. Wound healing assay was performed to evaluate the migratory capacity of HCC cells. Cell invasion assay was performed using Transwell chambers. Data are presented as the mean number of the migration and invasion cells per filed counted from five randomly selected fields under a microscope (×100 magnification). e miR-98 mimic suppressed the capacity of HCC-conditioned TAMs to promote HepG2 cell EMT while miR-98 inhibitor enhanced the capacity of HCC-conditioned TAMs to promote HepG2 cell EMT compared with negative control. Densitometric quantification was shown. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 vs. the corresponding control group