FIGURE 2.

Protein arginine methyltransferase 3 (PRMT3) promotes cell proliferation and tumour growth in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in vitro and in vivo. (A) Western blotting analysis confirmed the expression of PRMT3 in the indicated SNU398 cells (left) and Huh7 cells (right) after lentivirus transfection (n = 3). (B) Cell counting kit‐8 (CCK‐8) assays showed the proliferation capacities of SNU398 cells with PRMT3 knockdown and Huh7 cells with PRMT3 overexpression (n = 3). (C) Colony formation assays were used to analyse the proliferation abilities of the indicated SNU398 cells and Huh7 cells (n = 3). (D) EdU assays were performed to detect the cell proliferation of the indicated SNU398 cells and Huh7 cells (n = 3, scale bars: 50 μm). (E–G) The subcutaneous HCC xenograft model was established in nude mice to investigate tumourigenic ability of PRMT3 in vivo. (E) Images of subcutaneous tumours (n = 5 for each group). (F) Tumour growth curves of each group. (G) Tumour weight of the tumours. (H) Representative Ki‐67 staining images showed the proliferation of xenografts in the indicated groups (scale bars: 20 μm). The experiments were replicated n times, and the data are represented as mean ± S.D. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001