Fig. 2

PSMD1 and PSMD2 overexpression promotes proliferation and inhibits cell apoptosis. a Cell proliferation was monitored with the MTT assay at the indicated time after treatment with PSMD1/PSMD2 overexpression in HepG2 cells. Data are presented as the mean ± SD (n = 3), *p < 0.05. b, c Flow cytometric analysis of the cell cycle distribution at 48 h post-transfection of overexpression plasmid in HepG2 cells. The percentages of each phase of the cell cycle (G0/G1, S, and G2/M) are shown. d, e HepG2 cells were collected for the detection of apoptotic cells by flow cytometry, 48 h after transfection. In all panels, data are presented as the mean ± SEM of three independent assays. f Relative mRNA expression of the cell cycle-related genes after transfection of the PSMD1/PSMD2 plasmid. The statistical significance of differences between means was assessed using unpaired Student’s t-tests (*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01) vs. the NC. g The mRNA expression levels of several apoptosis-related genes with the overexpression plasmid in HepG2 cells. The statistical significance of differences between means was assessed using unpaired Student’s t-tests (*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01) vs. the NC. h, i EdU staining after PSMD1/PSMD2 overexpression. The magnification is 200×. Results are shown as the mean ± SEM of three independent experiments. Independent sample t-tests were used to analyze the statistical differences between groups. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01