Figure 1.

Dicer deficiency promotes sustained ER stress and hepatocyte apoptosis. (a) The knockdown efficiency of lentivirus encoding Dicer-targeting shRNAs (LV-shDicer) was confirmed by comparison to a NC lentivirus (LV-NC). (b) Expression levels of ER stress marker mRNAs in HL-7702/L02 cells treated with TG, DCA or dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) after LV-NC or shDicer infections at 10 MOI for 24 h. RNA and protein levels were assayed by real-time RT-PCR and western blot analysis; GAPDH is the normalization control. Data are represented as the mean±S.D. of three independent experiments. **P<0.01, n=3. (c) Apoptosis rates were assayed by apoptosis marker annexin-V flow cytometry in shDicer- and NC-infected HL-7702/L02 cells. Data are representative of three independent experiments