Research Paper Volume 13, Issue 17 pp 21155—21190

Liver-specific over-expression of Cripto-1 in transgenic mice promotes hepatocyte proliferation and deregulated expression of hepatocarcinogenesis-related genes and signaling pathways

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Figure 2. CR-1 expression is significantly upregulated in HCC tissues. (A) RT-PCR analysis of CR-1 transcript levels in HCC tissues (T) and matched adjacent non-tumor liver tissues (N). (B) The histogram plot shows ratio (T/N) of CR-1 mRNA levels in HCC (T) and matched non-tumor liver tissues (N) based on semi-quantitative analysis of RT-PCR data shown in Figure 2A. (C) qRT-PCR analysis shows relative levels of CR-1 transcript in 65 HCC (T) and 63 adjacent non-HCC liver tissue biopsies (N). (D) The expression levels of CR-1 transcript in HCC clinical specimens (T; n = 369) and non-cancerous liver tissue biopsies (N; n = 160) from TCGA datasets. (E) Representative western blot shows CR-1 protein expression levels in HCC (T) and adjacent non-HCC liver tissue biopsies (N). (F) Representative images show CR-1 protein expression in HCC and adjacent non-HCC liver tissue biopsies, as examined by IHC. (G) IHC assay analysis shows that CR-1 protein expression was significantly higher in majority of HCC tissues compared to the adjacent non-cancerous liver tissues (71.4% vs. 27.8%).