Figure 5.

Depletion of Cx32 in parental Huh7 cells induces EMT and reduces chemosensitivity to OXA. (A) Western blot was conducted to detect the inhibitory effect of Cx32 siRNA in Huh7 cells. (B) Cell morphological changes of Cx32 downregulated Huh7 cells as assessed by microscopy. (C) Decreased expression of E-cadherin but increased expression levels of Vimentin and Snail were found upon Cx32 silencing in Huh7 cells, as shown by Western blot. (D) Invasive ability was enhanced by Cx32 knockdown in Huh7 cells as assessed by the transwell invasion assay. (E) The MTT assay was performed to measure cell growth in Huh7 cells transfected with Cx32 siRNA 3. **P<0.01 vs NC (D), and *P<0.05 vs either OXA treatment in Huh7 cells or OXA treatment in Huh7 cells transfected with control siRNA (E).

Abbreviations: Cx, connexin; EMT, epithelial–mesenchymal transition; NC, negative control; OXA, oxaliplatin.