Figure 3.

Downregulation of circRASGRF2 induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in HCC cells

(A) Cell cycle analysis showed that more MHCC97H cells were distributed in the G₁ phase and less in the S phase after silencing circRASGRF2. (B) Cell cycle analysis showed that fewer Hep3B cells were distributed in the G₁ phase and more in the S phase after overexpression of circRASGRF2. (C) circRASGRF2 knockdown significantly increased the percentage of apoptotic cells in MHCC97H cells. (D) Overexpression of circRASGRF2 significantly decreased the percentage of apoptotic cells in Hep3B cells. (E) TUNEL assay indicated that downregulation of circRASGRF2 significantly increased the number of TUNEL-positive cells compared with control groups. (F) TUNEL assay indicated that overexpression of circRASGRF2 decreased the number of TUNEL-positive cells of Hep3B cells. All tests were performed at least three times. Data are expressed as mean ± SD. ∗∗p < 0.01.