To investigate the mechanism underlying CtBP2 promotion of HCC progression, we increased CtBP2 expression in Huh7 cells by stably transfecting the Huh7 cell line with a CtBP2 expressing plasmid. Successful transfection was confirmed by both qRT-PCR and Western blotting (Figure 3A). Wound healing assays demonstrated that the migration rate of Huh7 cells stably transfected with the CtBP2 expressing plasmid (Huh7 CtBP2 cells) was notably faster than Huh7 cells transfected with a vector plasmid control (Huh7 Vector cells) 24 and 48 h after scratching the cell layer (Figure 3B). To assess invasiveness, we conducted Transwell invasion assays and observed that Huh7 cell invasiveness was significantly increased by increased CtBP2 expression (Figure 3C).
