Fig 2: Expression of HBx and XB130 in liver cancer tissues and the matched adjacent normal tissues. (a) Differentially expressed mRNAs in liver cancer tissues and adjacent normal tissues screened out using microarray-based analyses. (b, c) Expression of HBx and XB130 in liver cancer and adjacent tissues examined by RT-qPCR. (d, e) Correlation analyses on HBx and XB130 expression with tumor size. (f) HBx and XB130 expression in tissues analyzed by immunohistochemistry. (g, h) Survival analysis on HBx and XB130 expression with prognosis of liver cancer patients. ∗p < 0.05 indicates statistical significance.

Fig 3: Binding relation of HBx with XB130 in HepG2 cells. (a, b) mRNA and protein expression of HBx and XB130 in HepG2 cells with high expression of XB130 and low expression of HBx determined by RT-qPCR and Western blot analysis. (c) Correlation of XB130 with HBx in liver cancer tissues. (d) Binding relation between HBx and XB130 analyzed by RIP. ∗#p < 0.05.

Fig 4: HBx/XB130 axis facilitates proliferation of HepG2 cells. (a) Transfection efficiency of cells with silenced HBx and overexpressed XB130 detected by RT-qPCR. (b) Proliferative ability of cells examined by CCK-8 assay. (c) Colony formation ability of cells examined by colony formation assay. ∗#p < 0.05.

Fig 5: Expression of HBx/XB130 in liver cancer cells and normal hepatocytes. (a) Expression of HBx/XB130 in HepG2 and MIHA cells determined by RT-qPCR. (b) Protein levels of HBx/XB130 in HepG2 and MIHA cells analyzed by Western blot analysis. (c, d) Transfection efficiency of pcDNA 3.1 plasmids containing si-HBx or XB130-OE evaluated by RT-qPCR. ∗p < 0.05 and ∗∗p < 0.01.