Figure 9.

ACER2 promotes HCC cell invasion and migration through SMPDL3B. Huh‐7 cells with stable ACER2 knockdown (A, C, E) or overexpression (B, D, F) were transfected with the indicated plasmids (A, C, E) or siRNA (B, D, F) for 48 h; then, transwell assays (A‐D) and wound‐healing assays (E, F) were performed. The histograms (A‐D) represent the mean values of invasive and migrated cells per field (from at least 5 fields, mean ± SD); cell number was counted using ImageJ software (**P < .01; ***P < .001) (A‐D). The wound closure area (scale bar: 50 μm) was also quantified using ImageJ (E, F). Error bars represent the SD from 3 independent experiments, and statistical significance was analyzed using Student t test (** or ## P < .01, ***or ### P < .001)