Fig 2: MAT1A and GNMT expression decreased cell proliferation and invasion in HepG2 cells. MAT1A and GNMT expression also decreased reactome protein EEF1D, and EIF3B mRNA levels. (A) Doubling time of 4 HepG2 derived stable cell lines with various MAT1A and GNMT-expression levels were determined by cell counting. Points, mean; bars, SE. A: Control cells. B: Clone #1, MAT1A and GNMT-overexpressing cells. C: Clone #2, MAT1A and GNMT-overexpressing cells. (B) Overexpression of MAT1A and GNMT decreases invasive ability of HCC cells. MAT1A, GNMT, and ß-actin (loading control) protein expression levels were evaluated by immunoblotting in HepG2 and HepG2/MAT1A/GNMT. *, p < 0.05. (C) List of quantitative PCR primers. (D) Pearson’s correlation matrix of GNMT, MAT1A, MAT2A, EEF1D, and EIF3B mRNA expression. (E) Linear plot of correlation estimated from doubling time and EEF1D mRNA expression.

Fig 3: The correlations between MAT1A and GNMT with reactome genes in liver hepatocellular carcinoma patients using the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) web server program. Pearson’s correlations showed that MAT1A mRNA levels inversely correlated with (A) EIF3B and (B) EEF1D; GNMT mRNA levels inversely correlated with EIF3B (C) and EEF1D (D); MAT1A (E) and GNMT expressions are positively correlated.

Fig 4: The expressions of MAT1A, GNMT, and MAT2A in HCC. Gene expression profiling interactive analysis (GEPIA) GEPIA2 database was employed for bioinformatics analysis. (A–C) MAT1A, GNMT, and MAT2A expression in paired tumor and adjacent normal tissue. *, p < 0.05. (D) Pearson’s correlation was used to elucidate MAT1A expression in relation to GNMT expression. (E,F) Kaplan–Meier plots showed that high expression of MAT1A and GNMT (F) are both associated with better overall survival rate of patients with HCC. HR, hazard ratio (G) Kaplan–Meier plot showed that elevated MAT2A expression is associated poor overall survival rate of patients with HCC. HR, hazard ratio.