Figure 4

Overexpression of TGFβ1 in HNF1α-inhibited cells and in HNF1α-mutated HCA. A,B: mRNA expression levels of TGFB1 and its targets SMAD7 and TGFBI were compared between HepG2 (A) or Hep3B (B) cells transfected with HNF1α siRNA (siH) and with control siRNA (siC) at 3 and 7 days after transfection (two-tailed t-test). C: Correlation between expression of HNF1α and TGFβ1 mRNA in HepG2 cells 3 days after transfection were analyzed using a range of siRNA concentrations (0, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1 nM) and significance was assessed by Spearman's rank correlation test. All graphs plot are qRT-PCR results relative to cells transfected with control siRNA. D,E,F: mRNA expression levels of TGFB1 (D) and its targets SMAD7 (E) and TGFBI (F) in HNF1α-mutated HCA (n = 15), HCA not mutated for HNF1A (n = 20), and normal liver tissues (NL; n = 23). mRNA levels were analyzed by qRT-PCR and are expressed as n-fold difference in gene expression relative to the mean expression of normal liver tissues (two-tailed Mann-Whitney test). G: Typical aspect of H-HCA featuring marked steatosis and ill-defined borders, with adjacent non-tumoral liver infiltration (indicated by arrows). Hematoxylin-Eosin-Saffron (HES) staining.