Research Paper Volume 13, Issue 15 pp 19317—19338

The deubiquitinase OTUD3 stabilizes ACTN4 to drive growth and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma

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Figure 6. ACTN4 is critical for OTUD3-mediated HCC cells progression in vitro and in vivo. (E) Western blot showing the overexpression of OTUD3 rescued the decreased ACTN4 protein level caused by ACTN4 knockdown. (F, G) EdU assay identifying the effect of OTUD3 upregulation on inhibited HCC cell growth caused by ACTN4 downregulation. (H) Quantification of HCC cell transwell migration and invasion results. (I, J) Tumor sizes and tumor weights of 24 nude mice (6 mice per group) were measured and corresponding tumor growth curves were obtained in the rescue experiments. (K, L) In vivo lung metastasis rescue experiment was examined in 24 nude mice (6 mice per group). Representative H&E staining of lungs are shown (Scale bar: 100μm; magnification: 200X), along with the number of lung metastases in the four groups of nude mice. The unpaired two-sided Student’s t test was used for comparing between two groups of equal variances. Error bars represent mean ± SD from three independent experiments. NS: not significant, *P< 0.05, **P< 0.01.