HepG2 cells were detached by scraping and were then washed and lysed on ice. Samples (60 μg protein each) were resolved by electrophoresis and transferred to polyvinylidene fluoride membranes. After blocking, membranes were incubated with primary antibodies at 4 °C overnight. This was followed by a 1-h incubation with a horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibody [
43]. Membranes were visualized using Chemiluminescence HRP Substrate (Millipore, Billerica, USA) and a Luminescent Imaging Workstation (Tanon, Shanghai, China) [
44]. β-Actin and GAPDH were used as an internal control. The primary antibodies used in the present study were as follows: caspase-9 (1:1000, Cell Signaling Technology, #9504), TAZ (1:1000, Abcam, #ab224239), pro-caspase-3 (1:1000, Abcam, #ab13847), cleaved caspase-3 (1:1000, Abcam, #ab49822), Cyclin E (1:1000, Abcam, #ab171535), Bcl-2 (1:1000, Cell Signaling Technology, #3498), CXCR7 (1:1000, Abcam, #ab38089), Bax (1:1000, Cell Signaling Technology, #2772), c-IAP (1:1000, Cell Signaling Technology, #4952), complex III subunit core (CIII-core2, 1:1000, Invitrogen, #459220), survivin (1:1000, Cell Signaling Technology, #2808), Cyt-c (1:1000; Abcam; #ab90529), Drp1 (1:1000, Abcam, #ab56788), complex II (CII-30, 1:1000, Abcam, #ab110410), Fis1 (1:1000, Abcam, #ab71498), F-actin (1:1000, Abcam, #ab205), complex IV subunit II (CIV-II, 1:1000, Abcam, #ab110268), complex I subunit NDUFB8 (CI-20, 1:1000, Abcam, #ab110242), Mff (1:1000, Cell Signaling Technology, #86668), Tom20 (1:1000, Abcam, #ab186735), CXCR4 (1:1000, Abcam, #ab1670), Cyclin D (1:1000, Abcam, #ab134175), t-JNK (1:1000; Cell Signaling Technology, #4672), p-JNK (1:1000; Cell Signaling Technology, #9251).