Carnitine palmitoyltransferase-II inactivity promotes malignant progression of metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease via liver cancer stem cell activation

Figure 1 Carnitine palmitoyl transferase-II is downregulated in human hepatocellular carcinoma tissues. A: The carnitine palmitoyl transferase-II gene (CPT2) is located on the inner mitochondrial membrane; B: CPT2 in normal liver (n = 50) or LIHC (n = 269) tissues from TCGA database; C: CPT2 in LIHC (n = 50) and self-control normal liver (n = 50) tissues from TCGA database; D: Carnitine palmitoyl transferase-II (CPT-II) was evaluated via immunohistochemistry (IHC), and the relative ratio of metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (n = 12) to self-control non-HCC tissues (n = 12) was determined; E: CPT-II in livers: IHC (up) & specific concentration (ng/mg protein, down) between MAFLD-related HCC (n = 12) and their self-controlled non-HCC tissues (n = 12). ^bP < 0.01, compared with non-HCC tissues. HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; IHC: Immunohistochemistry; CoA: Coenzyme A; IMM: Inner mitochondrial membrane; OMM: Outer mitochondrial membrane; CPT2: The carnitine palmitoyl transferase-II gene; CPT1: The carnitine palmitoyl transferase-I gene.