Fig. 1
Primary tumors promote lung metastasis. a, b Huh-7 cells were intravenously injected into mice with or without subcutaneous inoculation of Huh-7 cells. Lung metastasis was examined after 4 weeks. Green arrows indicate metastatic nodules. Pathology analysis confirmed that the nodules in lungs were metastatic lesions. c, d Mice were treated as indicated, and gross lung metastasis was examined. Yellow circles indicate metastatic lesions. e, f Mice, with or without Huh-7 cells inoculation, were injected with Evans Blue (EB) via the caudal vein at the indicated time. Lungs were photographed, and EB leakage in the lungs and tumors were measured. g HCC cells were cultured in fresh medium or HCC conditioned medium for 2 h. Cell viability was assessed using CCK-8 assays. h, i HCC cells were cultured with fresh medium or Huh-7-conditioned medium for 2 h. The adhesive cells were photographed and counted. Representative images are shown. f, g, i Data are expressed as means ± SD of at least three independent experiments. Statistical analysis was made using one-way ANOVA e or an unpaired t test f, h. *P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001
