Fig. 1.

HNF1α, but not HNF1β, regulates PCSK9 expression. A: HEK293 cells were transfected with shLacZ, shHNF1α, or shHNF1β shuttle vector along with FLAG-tagged HNF1α or HNF1β expression vector and 48 h later extracted protein was probed with anti-FLAG and anti-β-actin antibodies. B: Relative luciferase activities from HepG2 cells cotransfected with shLacZ, shHNF1α, or shHNF1β shuttle vector along with either pGL3-basic, pPCSK9-D4, or pLDLR-1192 promoter luciferase plasmids. Data represent summarized results (mean ± SEM) of four to six replicates per treatment and are expressed as the ratio of firefly/Renilla activity from each sample where the relative luciferase activity for shLacZ transfected cells is set to 1. **P < 0.01 compared with shLacZ cotransfected samples. C: HepG2 cells were transfected with shLacZ or shHNF1α shuttle vectors at the indicated DNA amounts. Total protein from transfected cells was extracted in RIPA buffer supplemented with PMSF, protease inhibitor cocktail, and phosphatase inhibitor and was separated by SDS-PAGE. Western blotting was performed for detection of HNF1α, PCSK9 and β-actin.