Fig. 4

CCN3 is inversely related to cirrhosis in the prognosis of HCC and inhibits HSC proliferation. Patients with cirrhosis exhibit lower OS and higher TRR (a). There was no difference in OS or TRR when patients with high CCN3 expression were stratified according to presence or absence of cirrhosis (b, a). There was a significant difference in OS and TRR when patients with low CCN3 expression were stratified according to presence or absence of cirrhosis (b, b). There was no difference in OS or TRR when patients with cirrhosis were stratified according to CCN3 expression (c, a). There was a significant difference in OS and TRR when patients without cirrhosis were stratified according to CCN3 expression (c, b). aLO2-CM and CCN3 significantly inhibit proliferation of LX2 (d). The proportion of LX2 cells in S phase is decreased after treatment with aLO2-CM or CCN3 (e). LX2 cells treated with aLO2-CM or CCN3 exhibit reduced expression of TGF-β1, α-SMA, Collagen I, and Collagen III; this trend is reversed in aLO2-CCN3sh1-CM (f). LX2 cells treated with aLO2-CM or CCN3 exhibit significantly decreased concentrations of TGF-β1 (g)