Figure 1

Altered SP fraction and ABCG2 expression after treatment with ICD. (A) Representative flow cytometry histograms of SP analysis of PLC/PRF/5, MHCC-97L, SNU449, MHCC-97H and MHCC-LM3 cells after treatment with 250 µg/mL ICD for 24 h. (B) Bar graph of (A), showing statistical analysis (t test) of SP percentages of four HCC cell lines treated with 150 µg/mL and 250 µg/mL ICD for 24 h; for MHCC-97L and MHCC-LM3 cells, the effect of 10 µg/mL DXR on SP cell percentages was also used as a control. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01. (C) Western blot of ABCG2 protein in MHCC-97L and MHCC-LM3 cells after being treated with ICD and DXR, respectively, for 24 h; β-actin is a loading control. (D) Immunofluorescence staining confirmed that ABCG2 is downregulated in MHCC-97L and MHCC-LM3 cells after treatment with 150 µg/mL ICD for 24 h. ABCG2 (green) was detected with a monoclonal antibody and labeled with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-conjugated secondary antibody; nuclei were counterstained with 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI).