Fig. 1

NUPR1 acts as a radioresistant oncogene in HCC in vitro. a Western blot was used to determine the protein expression of NUPR1 in a panel of HCC cell lines (MHCC-97H, MHCC-97L, Hep1, Hep3B, Huh7, and QGY-7701). Bar graphs presented the quantification of NUPR1 levels in HCC cells (below). b The protein and mRNA levels of NUPR1 in MHCC-97H/MHCC-97L cells with NUPR1 overexpression and QGY-7701/Hep3B with NUPR1 knockdown were verified by western blot and qRT-PCR. c Colony formation assays were employed in MHCC-97H/MHCC-97L cells with NUPR1 overexpression and QGY-7701/Hep3B cells with NUPR1 knockdown after an increased dose of IR treatment (0, 2, 4, 6 Gy). Survival curves were represented. d Bar graphs show the quantification of cell death in NUPR1 overexpression or knockdown cells by staining with 7-AAD after IR treatment (8 Gy). e DNA double-strand breaks of NUPR1-overexpressing MHCC-97H and NUPR1-knockdown QGY-7701 cells were detected by comet assays at 24 h after exposure to IR (8 Gy) (left, representative images, scale bar: 50 μm; right, bar graphs indicating the average tail moment per cell). f Western blot analysis was used to determine the protein levels of γH2AX in cells with a different NUPR1 expression status at the indicated time points after IR (8 Gy). Data are the mean of biological triplicates and are shown as the mean ± SD. P values: *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001 and ns, not significant by two-tailed Student’s t-test