Caveolin-1 Knockdown Decreases SMMC7721 Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cell Invasiveness by Inhibiting Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-Induced Angiogenesis

Figure 4

Invasion assays were performed for SMMC7721 cells in the control (CON), negative control (NC), and caveolin-1 siRNA-LV (KD) groups using a Millicell chamber system with BD Matrigel. (a) The number of invasive cells in the KD group was significantly reduced at 24 h and 48 h; invasiveness was significantly restored following supplementation with recombinant human VEGF (KD + VEGF) or infection with the pGC-FU-caveolin-1 DNA plasmid LV (KD + CAV1). (b) The invasiveness difference between the group KD and the CON, NC, KD + VEGF, and KD + CAV1 groups was quantitated by counting the number of cells that migrated to the lower level of the membrane in ten microscopic fields at 100x magnification and averaging the values. The data are presented as the mean ± SD from three independent experiments; in each experiment, conditions were performed in duplicate. At 24 h and 48 h, KD versus CON, ; KD versus NC, ; KD + VEGF versus KD, ; KD + CAV1 versus KD, ; KD + VEGF versus KD + CAV1, ).

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