Fig. 2

Tetrandrine prevented HCC cell EMT. a Western blot analysis of the EMT-related proteins E-cadherin, occludin and vimentin in Huh7 and HCCLM9 cells after treatment with the indicated concentrations (0-2 μM) of tetrandrine (Tet) for 24 h and (b) exposure to 2-μM tetrandrine for different time intervals (0-24 h); β-actin and GAPDH were used as the controls. c Huh7 and HCCLM9 cells were treated with 0 (DMSO) or 2-μM tetrandrine (Tet) for 24 h and then subjected to immunofluorescence analysis of the E-cadherin and vimentin levels. Scale bars: 20 μm. d Huh7 and HCCLM9 cells were treated with 2-μM tetrandrine (Tet) and TGF-β1 (5 ng·mL^− 1) for 72 h; control cells were only treated with DMSO. EMT was examined by western blot analysis of the expression of related proteins, including E-cadherin and vimentin. GAPDH was loaded as a control. e Transwell migration assays were performed on Huh7 and HCCLM9 cells in the presence of 2-μM of tetrandrine (Tet) and 5 ng·mL^− 1 of TGFβ-1 for the indicated time. Data are presented as the mean ± SD. of at least three independent experiments, *p < 0.05