Fig. 3

ATF3 suppressed HCC cell mobility in vitro and metastasis in vivo. a Overexpression of ATF3 suppressed HCC cell migration in vitro as assessed by the wound healing assay (scale bar, 200 μm). b Knockdown of ATF3 (shATF3–1, − 2, − 3) promoted HCC cell migration in vitro as assessed by the wound healing assay (scale bar, 200 μm). c Silencing ATF3 promoted HCC cell invasion in vitro (scale bar, 100 μm). The bar graphs in (a), (b) and (c) represent quantitative data from three replicates. d Representative images show the intrahepatic metastatic and lung metastatic nodules derived from SMMC-7721 cells with silenced ATF3 and those derived from the control cells (left images, scale bar, 500 μm; right images, scale bar, 100 μm). The numbers of intrahepatic metastatic and lung metastatic nodules are presented in the bottom panel (n = 7). Unpaired Student’s t-test was used for statistical analysis, and the data are shown as the mean ± S.D. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 and ns: no significance