Fig. 2
PSTK is a critical gene associated with targeted therapy resistance in HCC cells. A Genes associated with selenocompound metabolism, peroxisomes, and folate biosynthesis were strongly depleted, as indicated by the colored dots. PSTK and SOD2 were the most significantly depleted gene hits in most treatment groups. B The PSTK/SOD2 mRNA levels in HCC samples and normal liver tissue samples from the TCGA cohort, as analyzed using Student’s t-tests. C Kaplan-Meier curves demonstrating that higher PSTK mRNA levels were correlated with a poor prognosis for HCC patients in the TCGA cohort. D The percentages of PSTK/SOD2 high/medium expression in comprehensive tumor samples. E-F HCC cells viability following after treatment for 48 h with increasing Abemaciclib/Sorafenib concentrations. HCC cell lines were defined as sensitive cell lines (red) or resistant cell lines (blue) according to the median IC50 value of Sorafenib. G-H Immunoblots (n=3) for the defined sensitive and resistant HCC cell lines, showing expression levels of PSTK, GPX4 and β-Tubulin. *p<0.05. G Abemaciclib (2 μM), Sorafenib (2 μM) and Erastin (5 μM) treatments resulted in a time-dependent increase in PSTK protein expression over a 0 to 5 days period