Transcription factor 3 enhances hepatocellular carcinoma metastasis by upregulating matrix metalloproteinase-11

Figure 1 Elevated transcription factor 3 Levels predict poor prognostic outcomes in hepatocellular carcinoma patients. A: Transcription factor 3 (TCF3) mRNA expression levels in different tumor types and matched non-carcinoma samples from FireBrowse; B: Immunohistochemical staining for TCF3 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues and normal tissues obtain from The Human Protein Atlas. Scale bars: 200 μm; C: TCF3 mRNA expression in 76 paired freshly obtained HCC samples; D: Immunohistochemical staining for TCF3 in HCC tissues. Scale bars: 50 μm (lower panel) and 100 μm (upper panel). The University of ALabama at Birmingham CANcer data analysis Portal analysis for association between TCF3 mRNA levels and clinic-pathological features of liver cancer; E: Tumor grade; F: Nodal metastasis status; G: Tumor stage; H: Kaplan-Meier survival curves revealed the correlation between TCF3 Levels and overall survival (OS) outcomes in HCC patients; I: Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed the correlation between TCF3 mRNA levels and OS for patients with liver HCC in The Cancer Genome Atlas dataset; J and K: Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analyses of TCF3 Levels in HCC cell lines. ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01, ^cP < 0.001, ^dP < 0.0001. HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; LIHC: Liver hepatocellular carcinoma; TCF3: Transcription factor 3; TCGA: The Cancer Genome Atlas.