Fig. 7: The PA/PHF2/SREBP1c loop rewires lipogenesis and proliferation in HCC cells.

a Hep3B cells were transfected with the indicated siRNAs and incubated with PA for 24 h. The expressions of lipogenesis- and proliferation-related genes in Hep3B cells were quantified by RT-qPCR relative to 18S RNA; mean ± SD (n = 3 independent experiments); *P < 0.05. b Each FFA of HepG2 cells was calculated using GC-TOF/MS. The color scale bar represents relative expression values; blue shows a low expression score; yellow shows a high expression score. Mean ± SD (n = 8 independent samples); *P < 0.05. siS siSREBP1c. c Schematic diagram showing incorporation of 2-carbon units from ¹³C-labeled acetate into PA. d The de novo distribution of ¹³C-labeled even isotopomers of palmitate in HepG2 cells was measured using LC-MS. Mean ± SD (n = 3 independent samples); *P < 0.05. e Representative photographs of spheroid-formed cells on oxygen-permeable chips on 1 and 5 day. Scale bar = 200 µm. The right panel shows the average diameter of the spheroids quantified using ImageJ. Mean ± SD (n = 3 independent samples); *P < 0.05. For the analyses in (a, b, d, e), an unpaired two-tailed Student′s t test was conducted. The exact p values are presented in Supplementary Data 2.