Figure 1.

Lipocalin 2 (LCN2) is regulated by Yes-associated protein-1 (YAP1)–β-catenin in hepatoblastomas (HBs). A: Venn diagram of up-regulated genes in a mouse genome analysis illustrating that five gene loci that contain binding sites for T-cell factor 4 (TCF4) and TEA domain (TEAD) also have up-regulated expression in murine HB. B: Real-time PCR of liver lysates from control mouse livers and β-catenin–YAP1–induced HB tumor-laden livers, showing significantly increased expression of LCN2. C: Serum enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for LCN2 was performed on mice with HB tumors and varying degrees of tumor burden, approximated by liver weight–to–body weight (LW/BW) ratio, showing a positive and significant correlation between serum LCN2 level and disease burden in mice (R² = 0.82). D: Schematic representation of the timeline for HepG2 cell transfection with silencing RNA targeting β-catenin, YAP1, LCN2, or scrambled siRNA. E: Western blot shows decreased levels of LCN2 after transfection of HepG2 cells with siRNA to LCN2, β-catenin, or YAP1. Efficacy of each of the siRNA is shown by decrease in their respective protein levels. Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) was used as a loading control. ^∗∗∗∗P < 0.0001 (t-test).