Fig. 6.

The effect of 5-AZA is mediated by TET methylcytosine dioxygenase. a siRNAs targeting TET 2 and TET3 decreased the level of TET m-RNA to approximately 30 % for TET3 and 40 % for TET2 as compared with corresponding cells transfected cells with control siRNAs shown by quantitative RT-PCR (p value assed by Student’s t test; data are represented as mean ± SE). b Immunostaining shows that the knockdown down of TET genes expression in HCC cell lines, specifically TET2, decreased the basal level of 5hmC signal and attenuated the induction of 5hmC by 5-AZA (20 μM) treatment for 48 h