Fig. 4

Downregulation of UPF1 promoted tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. a Representative images of tumors formed in nude mice injected subcutaneously with HCCLM9 control cells (Control) and pcDNA3.1-UPF1 stable clones (UPF1). b Representative images of tumors removal from the nude mice. c, d Effect of UPF1 on HCC growth was described by the tumor growth curve and tumor weight in the two groups. Data are shown as the mean ± s.d. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01. e Immunohistochemical staining for Ki-67 in tumor xenografts of nude mice formed by the two groups. (Scale bars = 30 μm). The proportion of Ki-67 positive cells was also shown. **p < 0.01. f Representative images of HE staining of metastatic nodules in the lungs of nude mice. The metastatic nodules are indicated by yellow arrows. (Scale bars = 50 μm). *p < 0.05