Fig. 3.

Silencing of BMP2 suppresses tumor angiogenesis. a Tumor volume and weight after over-expression or silencing of BMP2. b Representative image of xenograft tumors. c HE staining analysis of pathological changes in response to over-expression or silencing of BMP2 (× 400). d Vessel formation in response to over-expression or silencing of BMP2 observed under a laser confocal microscope (× 400). e VEGF protein level in serum of nude mice injected with cells infected with lentivirus expressing oeBMP2 or shBMP2 measured by ELISA. f Immunohistochemical staining for CD31 (× 400) showing MVD value in response to over-expression or silencing of BMP2. g Cell apoptosis in response to over-expression or silencing of BMP2 detected by TUNEL (× 400). h Positive rate of Caspase-3 and PCNA in response to over-expression or silencing of BMP2 detected by immunohistochemistry (× 400). i Western blot analysis of VEGF, VEGF-C, MMP-2, MMP-9, Vimentin, and E-cadherin proteins in response to over-expression or silencing of BMP2. n = 6. Data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. p values were obtained by the Mann-Whitney U test. *p < 0.05. HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; OD, optical density; BMP2, bone morphogenetic proteins 2; HE, hematoxylin-eosin; NC, negative control; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor; PCNA, proliferating cell nuclear antigen; MVD, microvessel density; ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; TUNEL, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling