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. 2014 Jun 3;9(6):e98063. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0098063

Figure 7. Effect of miR-146a overexpression on SMAD2/SMAD3 mRNA expression and protein translation and in osteogenic related gene expression.

Figure 7

Overexpression of miR-146a resulted in a reduction of SMAD3 mRNA expression while SMAD2 mRNA levels remained unchanged (A–B). Protein level of both SMAD2 and SMAD3 were significantly reduced by overexpression of miR-146a as evidenced by western blot analysis (C) with densitometry band intensity quantification (D–E). miR-146a overexpression resulted in increased RUNX2 expression and a reduction in SOX9 expression (F–G). Relative expression analysis by RT-qPCR was normalized to β-Actin. Densitometry data presented as percentage of band intensity compared to control group (100%). Data are represented as an average of three independent patient samples and error bar represents ± SD. *P<0.05, **P<0.01; ***P<0.001 calculated using Mann-Whitney test.