Figure 2.

OR HCC cells acquire the EMT phenotype. (A–C) Morphological changes of HepG2/OXA, Huh7/OXA, and SMMC-7721/OXA cells compared with parental counterparts, as assessed by microscopy. (D) qRT-PCR was performed to assess the mRNA levels of E-cadherin and Vimentin in parental and OR HCC cells. (E–G) Left panel, Western blot was conducted to measure the protein expression levels of E-cadherin, Vimentin, Snail, and Slug in parental and OR HCC cells. Right panel, quantitative results for the left panel. (H) Huh7/OXA cells expressed low level of E-cadherin but high level of Vimentin compared with parental Huh7 cells as evidenced by immunofluorescent staining (original magnification, ×200). OR HCC cells were cultured in cell growth medium containing 5 μg/mL, 4 μg/mL, and 8 μg/mL OXA for HepG2, Huh7, and SMMC-7721, respectively. *P<0.05, and **P<0.01 vs parental control.

Abbreviations: EMT, epithelial–mesenchymal transition; HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; OR, OXA-resistant; OXA, oxaliplatin.