To examine CtBP2 expression in HCC cell lines and to identify the most appropriate HCC cell model for further investigations, we conducted qRT-PCR assays and Western blots to detect CtBP2 mRNA and protein expression, respectively, in Hep3B, PLC/PRF/5, HepG2, MHCC97H and Huh7 cells. All five HCC cell lines expressed different CtBP2 levels (Figure 2A). When compared to the Huh7 and Hep3B cell lines, CtBP2 mRNA expression was higher in MHCC97H, PLC/PRF/5 and HepG2 cells. CtBP2 protein expression, as measured by Western blotting, mirrored the mRNA expression in all five HCC cell lines (Figure 2B). The Huh7 and MHCC97H cell lines had the lowest and the highest CtBP2 expression levels, respectively. Therefore, we selected the Huh7 cell line for the CtBP2 overexpression experiments in this study, and the MHCC97H cell line was used for the CtBP2 knockdown experiments.
