Fig. 3

Tumor-associated neutrophils (TANs) and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in hepatocellular carcinoma. CCL2 secreted by TANs associates with IL-8 to promote epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) via the PI3K/AKT HIF-1α pathway. TANs also upregulate the downstream ZEB1 transcription factors by secreting NE. In addition, HGF promotes EMT of tumor cells and increases hematogenous dissemination by binding to its receptor c-Met. In the absence of p53 gene expression, HGF/Met also mediates EMT of hepatocellular carcinoma by upregulation of Snail and other transcription factors