Fig. 5.

Cephalomannine inhibits UBE2S expression and attenuates HCC growth in vitro and in vivo. a Promoter activity of UBE2S in the presence of 100 compounds following 24 h treatment (left) assessed by luciferase reporter assays in HEK293T cells transfected with the pGV238 vector containing human UBE2S promoter (−2000/−1) plasmids. The promoter activity of UBE2S in the presence of cephalomannine (10 μM) for 24 h (middle and right) was detected by luciferase reporter assays in HEK293T and HepG2 cells. b Expression of TRIM28, UBE2S, and p27 in HCC cells in the presence of varying concentrations of cephalomannine for 48 h detected by western blot analysis. c–d Effects of cephalomannine on cell proliferation and cell cycle progression in HCC cells determined by CCK-8 and flow cytometry assays. e Orthotropic tumor-bearing mouse livers and tumor weights and volume in each group (n = 6). f Expression of UBE2S and p27 in tumor tissues detected by immunohistochemistry analysis. Two-tailed Student’s t tests were used to test the significance of differences between two groups; data are represented as mean ± SEM (a, c–f). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001