Fig. 3

KIFC1 promotes HCC cell invasion in vitro and accelerates intrahepatic and lung metastasis in vivo. a Transwell migration and invasion assays demonstrated the migratory and invasive abilities of the indicated HCC cells. The counts of migrated and invaded HCC cells are illustrated in the right panels. Data are presented as the mean ± SD. * P < 0.01, ** P < 0.001. b Western blotting indicated the KIFC1 inhibition by CW069 (60 μM) for 48 h. Transwell invasion assays demonstrated the invasive ability of the indicated cells. c KIFC1 was knocked out with the CRISPR-Cas9 system as described in the protocol from Feng Zhang’s laboratory. Western blot demonstrated that KIFC1 was knocked out by gRNA sequence g3 and g4. Transwell invasive abilities were compared between the indicated HCC cells. d Harvested liver tissue from orthotopic implantation models revealed intrahepatic metastasis differences in the 7701 with KIFC1 knockdown (KD) or KIFC1 overexpression (OE) HepG2. Representative pictures of intrahepatic metastatic nodules are shown in the right panels. An asterisk marks the tumor developing at the injected site and an arrow indicated the intrahepatic metastatic lesions. e Metastasis lesions from the lung metastasis model are illustrated by HE staining. The counts are illustrated on the right panels. Data are presented as the mean ± SD. * P < 0.01, ** P < 0.001