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

Figure 4 HMGA2 regulates the metastatic phenotype and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma cells. A-D: Cell migration determined by cell scratch assay (A and C) and cell invasion evaluated by Transwell invasion assay (B and D); E-H: Expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition-related markers analyzed by Western blot (WB) (E and G) and expression levels of transforming growth factor-β and phospho-small mothers against decapentaplegic 2 measured by WB (F and H). ^aP < 0.05. ^bP < 0.01. ^cP < 0.001. ^dP < 0.0001. NC: Negative control; OE-HMGA2: HMGA2 over-expression; sh-NC: Short hairpin RNA negative control; sh-HMGA2: Short hairpin RNA-mediated HMGA2 knockdown; GAPDH: Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; TGF: Transforming growth factor; Smad2: Small mothers against decapentaplegic 2; p-Smad2: Phospho-small mothers against decapentaplegic 2.