Fig. 1: FBXO28 inhibits migration, invasion and metastasis of HCC cells.

A–C Huh7 cells were transfected with pCMV6-FBXO28-Myc-Flag (FBXO28-Flag) or a vector control for 48 h, or Hep3b cells were infected with lentivirus expressing shFBXO28 or shCtrl and stably selected, followed by wound healing (A) as well as migration and invasion assays (B, C). Representative images are shown in (A) (Scale bar: 0.5 mm) and (B, C) (Scale bar: 10 μm). Data in (A–C) were presented as mean ± SD from three independent experiments. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 and ***P < 0.001 (independent T-test). D HCCLM3 cells (2 × 10⁶) stably expressing shFBXO28 or shCtrl were injected into NOD/SCID mice via tail veins, and the number of lung metastatic nodules was counted after the mice were sacrificed at 10 weeks after injection (n = 5). Scale bar: 4 mm, *P < 0.05 (independent T-test). E Hematoxylin and eosin staining of the indicated lung metastatic nodules. The scale bars in left and right panel represent 500 μm and 100 μm, respectively. F GSEA enrichment plot from HCC cohorts. G Immunochemistry staining of HCC tissue microarray. Representative sample from each group (normal, primary, and metastatic) was shown on the left panel. Scale bar: 100 μm. The staining intensity was quantified on the right panel. *P < 0.05 (one-way ANOVA). H FBXO28 mRNA levels in epithelial and mesenchymal cancer cell lines plotted based on the RPKM. ***P < 0.001 (independent T-test).