FH535 inhibits β-catenin dependent transcriptional activation in HCC cell lines.

<p>Huh7 (Panel A) and Hep3B (Panel B) HCC cells were transfected with the luciferase reporter genes TOPFlash (left panels), which contains three TCF binding sites, or E3-pGL3 (right panels), which contains the AFP enhancer element E3 that has a highly conserved TCF site. Cells were additionally co-transfected with an expression vector that contained no insert (empty vector control, E.V.), wild-type β-catenin (β-catenin), or a constitutively active form of β-catenin (βcatS37A). Renilla luciferase was used to control for variations in transfection efficiency. Six hours after the addition of DNA, cells were treated with DMSO alone (no treatment) or increasing amounts of FH535. After 48 hours, luciferase levels were determined; firefly luciferase was normalized to renilla. In both cell lines, FH535 inhibited β-catenin-dependent activation of target genes. * <i>P</i><0.05. The experiment was done twice with similar results.