Figure 4.

Treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) lung fibroblasts with 5′-aza-2′-deoxycytidine liberates microRNA (miRNA) expression and down-regulates target mRNAs. IPF lung fibroblast cell line was either treated with the vehicle control dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) or treated with 0.5 μM 5′-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (5′-Aza) for 24 hours. RNA was isolated and subjected to quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis for (A) miRNA or (B) fibrotic genes. Data were normalized to (A) RNU48 or (B) CAP-1 expression. Shown is the average relative copy number (RCN) ± SD from two independent experiments. COL = collagen; CTGF = connective tissue growth factor; VEGF = vascular endothelial growth factor.