Fig. 1: Mitochondrial dynamics in HCC cell lines with different metastatic potential.

Mitochondria fusion is less frequent in HCC cells of higher metastatic capacity and correlated to MFN1. a Representative immunofluorescence images under a confocal microscope of mitochondrial morphology in HepG2 (G2), Hep3B (3B), SMMC-7721 (7721), MHCC97-L (97L), MHCC97-H (97H) and HCC-LM3 (LM3) cell lines stained with MitoTracker Deep Red. Scale bars: 10 µm. High metastatic HCC cells like MHCC97-H and LM3 intended to have more fragmented and less fused mitochondria, while low metastatic HCC cells like HepG2 exhibited an opposite morphology. b, c Quantified analysis on mitochondrial length in different HCC cells and ratio analysis based on quantified mitochondria length confirmed the morphologic alterations in IF images. n = 3, mean ± SEM. d, e qRT-PCR (n = 6, mean ± SEM) and western blot analysis for mRNA and protein levels of mitochondrial dynamic mediators. Mitochondria fusion mediator MFN1 showed most significant changes in protein level among HCC cells with different metastatic potential, consistent with mRNA levels.