Fig. 5.

Anti-miR-196a treatment results in increased expression of HOX-B7, bFGF, and BMP4 and enhanced migratory potential in NHEMs. a Transfection of NHEMs with LNAs against miR-196a or a scramble-miR, respectively, for 48 h. HOX-B7, bFGF, and BMP4 mRNA expression was strongly increased in anti-miR transfected cells compared to scramble-miR control transfected cells (set as 1). b Immunofluorescence staining revealed elevated levels of HOX-B7 protein in miR-196a anti-miR transfected cells (×43). c Anti-miR-196a-transfected NHEMs showed a significantly enhanced migratory potential of up to 200% when compared to scramble-miR transfected cells (set as 100%). Bars show the mean ± SD of three independent experiments, measurements were performed in duplicates (***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05)