TTK overexpression promotes cell proliferation and resistance to sorafenib in HCC cells.

<p>(A) Cell growth curves were described according to cell viability for five days (right panel), when recombinant pcDNA3.1-TTK and empty vector were transiently transfected into Huh7 and HepG2 cells respectively, confirmed by western blotting assay, where β-actin was used as an internal reference (left panel). (B) Representative dishes of anchor-dependent colony formation of Huh7 and HepG2 cells were shown, where these cells were transfected with recombinant pcDNA3.1-TTK and empty vector (left panel). The numbers of colonies were counted and statistically analyzed using a two-tailed <i>t</i> test (right panel). (C) The cytotoxic effects of sorafenib at different concentrations (0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10 µM) on cell viability was shown, where pcDNA3.1-TTK and empty vector were transfected into Huh7 (upper panel) and HepG2 (lower panel) cells, respectively. (D) As shown were the microscopic fields of anchorage-independent colony formation assay of Huh7 and HepG2 cells treated with 1 µM sorafenib, upon TTK overexpression (left panel). The numbers of colonies were counted and statistically analyzed using a two-tailed <i>t</i> test (right panel). *, <b><i>P</i></b><0.05; **, <b><i>P</i></b><0.01.