PTBP1 promotes the metastasis of liver cancer cells partially via regulating Axl-S levels. (A) The effect of PTBP1, Axl-L, and Axl-S expression levels on the invasive ability of HepG2 cells was examined by Transwell assay. The magnification is 200× and the scale length is 50 μm. Data are presented as mean ± S.D. (N=3), one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's test was performed for statistical analysis. The “*, **, ***” indicate “P<0.05, 0.01, 0.001” versus the corresponding group, respectively. (B) Tumor size of different mouse groups. (C) The mean tumor volume of the tumors in the different groups of mice at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 weeks. (D) HE staining was used to analyze the number of pulmonary metastases in different groups of nude mice. The magnification is 200× and the scale length is 100 μm. (E) In vivo imaging experiments in mice were performed to analyze the effects of PTBP1 and Axl isoforms on lung metastasis of liver cancer cells. Data are presented as mean ± S.D. (N=6), one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's test was performed for statistical analysis. The “*, **, ***” indicate “P<0.05, 0.01, 0.001” versus the corresponding group, respectively.