Figure 3: CXCR4 promotes hepatoma cells growth in vivo.

(a) Tumour growth curve and quantification of weight of the tumours that developed in nude mice injected subcutaneously with Huh7-control or Huh7-CXCR4 cells (n=10). Student’s t-test, *P<0.05. Error bars in panels are defined as s.d. (b) Tumour growth curve and quantification of weight of the tumours that developed in nude mice injected subcutaneously with SK-Hep1-shCon or SK-Hep1-shCXCR4 cells (n=10). Student’s t-test, *P<0.05. Error bars in panels are defined as s.d. (c) Tumour growth curve of mice bearing SK-Hep1 xenografts following intratumoural administration of PBS or 10 mg kg⁻¹ AMD3100 (n=10). Student’s t-test, *P<0.05. Error bars in panels are defined as s.d. (left panel). Kaplan–Meier survival analysis was performed for above-mentioned xenograft mice (n=10), P value is determined by log-rank test (right panel). (d) Tumour growth curve analysis of mice bearing SK-Hep1 xenografts following administration of 1 mg IgG or anti-CXCR4 neutralization antibody (n=10). Student’s t-test, *P<0.05. Error bars in panels are defined as s.d. (left panel). Kaplan–Meier survival analysis was performed for above-mentioned xenograft mice (n=10), P value is determined by log-rank test (right panel). (e) Representative IHC staining of Ki67 for SK-Hep1 xenografts with indicated administrations (scale bar, 50 μm; upper panel). Quantification of the percentage of Ki67-positive cells (n=10, lower panel). Student’s t-test, *P<0.05. Error bars in panels are defined as s.d.