HMGA2 promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma via transforming growth factor-β/small mothers against decapentaplegic 2

Figure 3 HMGA2 regulates the proliferative phenotype of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma cells. A: HMGA2 protein expression in human intrahepatic biliary epithelial cells and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma cell lines (RBE, HCCC-9810, HUCCT1); B and C: Efficiency of HMGA2 overexpression verified by Western blot (WB) and reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR); D and E: Efficiency of HMGA2 knockdown validated by WB and RT-qPCR; F and G: Cell viability detected by cell counting kit-8 assay; H: Cell proliferation assessed by 5-ethynyl-2’-deoxyuridine staining. ^bP < 0.01. ^cP < 0.001. ^dP < 0.0001. NS: Not significant; GAPDH: Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; NC: Negative control; OE-HMGA2: HMGA2 over-expression; mRNA: Messenger RNA; sh-NC: Short hairpin RNA negative control; sh-HMGA2: Short hairpin RNA-mediated HMGA2 knockdown; EdU: 5-ethynyl-2’-deoxyuridine.