LDLR and hepatocellular carcinoma: To further confirm the impact of MT1-MMP on LDLR expression, we knocked down MT1-MMP expression in another human hepatoma-derived cell line (HepG2) and found that LDLR levels were significantly increased in MT1-MMP siRNA-transfected cells, whereas the levels of MT2-MMP, LRP-1 and transferrin receptor were comparable in cells transfected with scrambled or MT1-MMP siRNA (Fig. 1c, lanes 2 and 3 vs. 1).