Figure 5.

Regorafenib reverses HGF‐induced sorafenib resistance in HCC cells. (A and B) Serum‐starved SMMC‐7721 and HepG2 cells pre‐incubated with regorafenib (0.25 μm or 0.5 μm) for 6 h were treated with HGF (10 ng·mL⁻¹) for 24 h and, thereafter, cells were incubated with sorafenib for 48 h. Cell viability was accessed by the CCK‐8 assay (*P < 0.05, HGF+Rego 0.25 μm vs. HGF; #P < 0.05, HGF + Rego 0.5 μm vs. HGF). (C) Following the treatment as described above, HCC cells treated with sorafenib (4 μm) were subjected to flow cytometry analysis, and apoptotic cells were compared (*P < 0.05). (D) Following the treatment as described above, PARP were detected by western blotting in HCC cells treated with sorafenib of 4 μm. The density of each band was normalized to GAPDH (*P < 0.05). Data are expressed as the mean ± SD from three individual experiments. Differences between groups were determined using Student's t‐test and two‐way ANOVA with Bonferroni correction.