Research Paper Volume 15, Issue 22 pp 12780—12793

Figure 1. Hypoxic BMSCs co-culture promotes HCC cells proliferation and metastasis in vitro. (A) Proliferation of HepG2 and SMMC-7721 cells determined by CCK-8 after co-culturing with BMSCs or hypo-BMSCs, Data were presented as the mean ± SD, and analyzed with Student’s t-test. *P < 0.05; ** P < 0.01. (B) The numbers of colony were counted from six fields of view in each group. Data were presented as the mean ± SD, and analyzed with Student’s t-test. *P < 0.05; ** < 0.01. (C) Colony formation assays showed that the proliferation rate was increased in HepG2 and SMMC-7721 cells after co-culturing with BMSCs or hypo-BMSCs. (D) Cell migration was measured by wound healing assay. The increased migration capability induced by hypoxic BMSC-secreted exosomes. (E) The distance of migration was measured from six fields of view in each group. Data were presented as the mean ± SD, and analyzed with Student’s t-test. *P < 0.05; ** P < 0.01. (F) The numbers of dot violet were counted from six fields of view in each group. Data were presented as the mean ± SD, and analyzed with Student’s t-test. *P < 0.05; ** P < 0.01. (G) Cell invasion were measured by transwell assays. HepG2 and SMMC-7721 cells co-culturing with BMSCs or hypo-BMSCs for 48 h. Cells that invaded to the bottom surface were stained with crystal violet and observed by light microscopy (magnification, 10×).