FIGURE 6.

A, Interleukin‐17F inhibits formation of vasculogenic mimicry (VM) in vitro. The effect of IL‐17F on VM formation on Matrigel was compared with the angiogenesis inhibitor sorafenib. When treated with sorafenib for 24 h, HSC‐3 cells showed reduction in tube formation at concentrations of 1‐5 µM. Similarly, IL‐17F inhibited the formation of the tube‐like structures in HSC‐3 cells compared with control, with the greatest effect observed at 100 ng/ml. Magnification: 4×. B, Interleukin‐17F reduces the parameters of VM in vitro. A tube formation analysis tool was used to further analyze the IL‐17F effect on VM parameters. IL‐17F at 100 ng/ml reduced almost all VM‐related parameters in HSC‐3, including number of nodes (P =.001), number of junctions (P =.001), number of meshes (P =.02), total length (P =.004), and number of segments (P =.009). Total mesh areas were also reduced by IL‐17F, but the difference was not significant compared with the controls. Experiments were performed independently at least three times. Values are expressed as means ± SD. Mann‐Whitney U test and Friedman test were performed on independent samples