Fig. 8

Oncogenic role of BCL9 in HCC. a BCL9 expression examined by western blot in stably transfected cells. b Proliferation of HCCLM3 cells after BCL9 knockdown and of HepG2 cells expressing wild-type or mutant BCL9 compared with that of controls, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. c Colony formation and invasion of HCCLM3 cells after BCL9 knockdown and of HepG2 cells expressing wild-type or mutant BCL9 compared with that of controls. The bar graphs illustrate the quantification of the assay results, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. d Representative bioluminescence images of mouse liver tumors and pulmonary metastasis. The color scale bar depicts the photon flux emitted from the mice, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. e Western blot showed the expression of β-catenin in HCCLM3 cells after BCL9 knockdown and of HepG2 cells expressing wild-type or mutant BCL9. f Results of dual-luciferase assays; reporter activity was normalized to Renilla luciferase activity, *P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001. g Immunofluorescence staining showing subcellular β-catenin localization in the indicated cells. h Representative BCL9 and CD8 staining in peritumor tissues and tumor samples from patients with HCC. The color scale bar depicts the CD8-positive cell number in all 40 matched sets of peritumor, primary tumor, and recurrent tumor tissues (left panel) and in 40 recurrent tumor tissues (right panel); scale bars = 50 μm, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01