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. 2019 Jan 17;10(2):43. doi: 10.1038/s41419-018-1282-6

Fig. 3. Enzymatic metabolism of extracellular dT regulated by thymidine phosphorylase (TP) affects tumor functions related to vasculogenic mimicry (VM) formation in hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Fig. 3

a Pathway analysis of glucose-free cultured PLC-PRF-5 cells affected by overexpressing TP (NG_TP), adding dT (NG_dT), or overexpressing TP and adding dT (NG_TP + dT). b Protein–protein interaction (PPI) analysis of genes involved in the pathways affected by overexpressing TP and adding dT. Major hubs related to VM formation are highlighted with diamond boxes. c Analysis of network topology, including logFC and Betweenness Centrality, reveals VM formation-related PPI hubs. d PPI hub diagrams for VM formation-related genes, namely, CDH5, FLT1, and KDR. e Western blot analysis of the expression levels of VE–Cad, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (VEGFR1), and VEGFR2 influenced by overexpressing TP and adding dT in glucose-free cultured PLC-PRF-5 cells. The ratio of densitometry value to the corresponding glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) value was used to indicate the relative protein expression. NG means “No Glucose” (mean ± SD; n = 3 in triplicate; **P < 0.01)