miR-146a promoted the expression of inflammatory cytokines associated with STAT3
activation in HCC cells. As described in the Materials and Methods section, HepG2
cells were transfected with negative control RNA (NC), miR-146a mimics
(miR146a-Mim), miR-146a inhibitors (miR146a-Inh), or STAT3 decoy ODN (STAT3-Dec).
(A) HepG2 proliferation was analyzed by MTT assay at the indicated
time points. (B) Cell cycle was determined by flow cytometry. The
levels of inflammatory cytokines associated with STAT3 activation were determined by
qPCR (C) and ELISA (D) analysis. Data are representative
of 3 independent experiments, and statistical significance was determined as
**P < 0.01 and *P < 0.05
compared to NC.