Fig. 3

Functional assessment of the malignity of ten liver cancer cell lines. a + b Scratch wound migration assay. a Representative brightfield microscopy images; black lines: initial wound, red signal: nuclei. b Left: Cell confluence [%] in wound area over time. Right: Determination of migration rates (Δconfluence [%]/h) in the period 0–24 h by linear regression. c Migration of HLC and HuH7 through uncoated transwell membranes, Hoechst staining after 24 h. Left: Quantification. Right: Representative images (10 × magnification). d + e Transwell migration/invasion assay. d Representative membranes (matrigel coated, control: uncoated), stained with crystal violet 24 h after seeding. e Invasiveness, determined as the ratio of total cell count penetrating a matrigel-coated membrane vs. the corresponding uncoated membrane. f Proliferation rates (untreated). Panel (b) displays mean ± SEM, all other graphs mean ± SD of three independent repetitions