STAT3 regulates miR-24 and miR-629 during hepatocellular transformation. (A) HNF4α, miR-24 and miR-629 levels in non-transformed immortalized hepatocytes (IMH2), different HCC lines, 2 normal liver tissues (N) and 12 hepatocellular cancer tissues (CA). (B) STAT3 occupancy (fold enrichment) at the miR-24 and miR-629 loci as determined by chromatin immunoprecipitation of cross-linked SNU-449 cells treated with IL6 (20ng/ml) for 6, 12 or 24h. (C) miR-24 and miR-629 expression levels (mean ± SD) in SNU-449 cells treated with IL6 (10ng/ml) for 24h or JSI-124 (5μg/ml) for 24h and then IL6 for 24h. (D) STAT3 phosphorylation status (Tyr 705) assessed by ELISA in SNU-449 cells treated with 1nM siRNA NC, siHNF4α#1, miR-24 and/or miR-629 for 24h. The data are presented as mean ± SD of three independent experiments.