The results showed that pcDNA3.1(+)-PHD3 was successfully constructed, and PHD3 could be overexpressed in HepG2 cells after transient transfection. To investigate whether PHD3 can inhibit HepG2 cells, we carried out a cell PF-04929113 growth curve assay and found that PHD3 arrested cell proliferation. Moreover, we analyzed caspase-3 activity and clarified whether PHD3 had an effect on apoptosis. We found that the cleaved 17 kD active caspase-3 fragment was significantly overexpressed in PHD3 group, which is in line with previous

studies [13, 15]. In conclusion, we constructed a recombinant eukaryotic expression vector, pcDNA3.1(+)-PHD3, showing that PHD3 overexpression can inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in HepG2 cells. Our study has provided preliminary data for further research of stably transfecting pcDNA3.1(+)-PHD3 into HepG2 cell and clarifying the mechanism of PHD3-induced apoptosis. MK-4827 nmr Acknowledgments This work was supported by a grant from the Science and Technology Innovation Fund of Guangdong Medical College, China (No. STIF201126) and Excellent Master’s Thesis Fostering Fund of Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Medical College, China (No.YS1108). References 1. Bruick RK, McKnight SL: A conserved

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