Fig. 3

The effect of HOXD10 on HCC cell proliferation and apoptosis. a Growth curves represent the cell viability analyzed by the MTT assay in HOXD10 re-expressed and unexpressed SMMC7721 and Huh7 cells, as well as in QGY7703 cells before and after knockdown of HOXD10. Each experiment was repeated in triplicate. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. b Colony formation results show that colony number was reduced by re-expression of HOXD10 in SMMC7721 and Huh7 cells, while increased by knockdown of HOXD10 in QGY7703 cells. Each experiment was repeated in triplicate. Average number of tumor clones is represented by bar diagram. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. c Flow cytometry results show induction of apoptosis by re-expression of HOXD10 in SMMC7721 and Huh7 cells, while reduction of apoptosis was found after knockdown of HOXD10 in QGY7703 cell. * P < 0.05. d Western blots show the effects of HOXD10 on the levels of cleaved caspase 3 and bcl-2 expression in SMMC7721, Huh7, and QGY7703 cells. VECTOR: control vector, Re-HOXD10: HOXD10 expressing vector, β-actin: internal control