Fig. 3

Higher matrix stiffness upregulated LOXL2 expression in HCC cells via activating integrin β1/α5/JNK/c-JUN signaling pathway. (a) Increased matrix stiffness upregulated LOXL2 expression and activated JNK/c-JUN signaling pathway in MHCC97H and Hep3B cells. (b) (i, ii) Knockdown of integrin β1 or integrin α5 obviously suppressed the expression levels of p-JNK, p-c-JUN, c-JUN and LOXL2 in HCC cells grown on 16 KPa stiffness substrate. Error bar represents SEM, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001