Fig. 2: Liver-specific Erk1^R84H expression causes hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

A Changes in total body weight of hepatic-Erk1^R84H mice fed with a regular diet (black circles; n = 31) or dox-supplemented diet (red circles; n = 30). Data are shown as mean ± SEM. B Macroscopic appearance of livers from hepatic-homo-Erk1^R84H mice provided with dox-supplemented diet for 5 months (two photos on the left) showing signs of significant deformations, and of a hepatic-homo-Erk1^R84H mouse provided with regular diet for the same time (photo on the right). C As in B but after tissue fixation. D Liver-to-body weight ratio in hepatic-homo-Erk1^R84H mice provided with a regular diet (black circles) or a dox-supplemented diet (for inducing liver-specific expression of Erk1^R84H) (red circles). Data are represented as mean ± SEM. Statistical significance was determined by unpaired two-tailed t test with significance indicated by ****, representing a P-value of p < 0.0001. E Total liver weight of hepatic-homo-Erk1^R84H mice fed dox-supplemented diet (red circles) or regular diet (black circles). Data are represented as mean ± SEM. Statistical significance was determined by unpaired two-tailed t test with significance indicated by ****, representing a P-value of p < 0.0001. Notably, investigators were not blinded to the experimental groups.