TGF-β induces cell death and/or inhibits proliferation in PLC, HepG2, HuH6, Hep3B and HuH7.

<p>(A) Left side: HCC cell lines were treated with 5 ng/ml TGF-β for indicated time points. Changes in c-MYC and P21 expression were detected using Western blot analysis with GAPDH as loading control. As HCC-T cells show a delayed TGF-β response, c-MMYC was induced after 72 h of TGF-β treatment. Right side: After TGF-β treatment for 0 (grey line), 2 (white bars) or 6 days (black bars) cell proliferation was evaluated by MTT assays. Treated samples were normalized to the corresponding control. (B) Left side: Western blot analysis of PARP and Caspase 3 cleavage using GAPDH expression as loading control after 0 and 48 h TGF-β treatment. In the case of HuH7 cells, the control sample was treated with TGF-β for 3 h. Right side: Cell death induced by 5 ng/ml TGF-β over 72 h (filled bars) was quantified by detecting LDH release normalized to total amount of LDH. Untreated samples were defined as 0 (grey line). Significant differences are indicated as * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01 and *** p < 0.001 (Student’s t test).