Fig. 4.

ZCCHC11 is overexpressed in HCC. (A) Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of ZCCHC11 mRNA levels in primary human hepatocytes (PHH) (n = 9) as compared with human HCC cell lines (PLC (n= 10), Hep3B (n= 6), HepG2 (n= 15)). (B) Representative Western blot image and (densitometric) quantification of ZCCHC11 protein levels in PHH (n= 3) as compared with human HCC cell lines (PLC (n = 4), Hep3B (n = 4), HepG2 (n = 4)). (C) ZCCHC11 mRNA levels (qRT-PCR analysis) in paired human HCC tissue samples and corresponding nontumorous liver tissues (CNTLT) (n = 32pairs). (D) Transcriptomics data of ZCCHC11 RNA expression levels in HCC (n = 369) and nontumorous liver tissues (n = 50) derived from TCGA-data applying the Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) database. (E) ZCCHC11 overexpression in HCC tissues (n = 2) as compared with nontumorous liver tissues (n = 2) applying the human proteinatlas database (representative images). (E-H) Confirmation of ZCCHC11 protein expression and cellular localization patterns in patients applying tissue micro array derived paired HCC tissues and CNTLT. Staining intensity and percentage of positive cells were incorporated into a semi-quantitative score describing "0" (very low/no expression), "1" (low/moderate expression) and "2" (strong expression). (H) Representative immunohistochemistry images and paired quantification of ZCCHC11 expression score (G) as well as semiquantitative analysis applying Fischer's exact test (H) in HCC as compared with CNTLT. Data are presented as the mean ± SEM. Statistical significance was determined by 2-tailed, unpaired t-test (A,B,D), paired t-test (G), and two-sided Fisher's exact test (H). *P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001, ****P< 0.0001.