Skip to main content
. 2016 Dec 28;8(4):6929–6939. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.14322

Figure 4. miR-224 down-regulates PCSK9 expression by directly targeting its 3′-UTR.

Figure 4

A. PCSK9 expression was increased in tissue samples of p-NENs. Immunohistochemistry of PCSK9 in tumor and para-tumor samples from patients with NENs (n=6, 3 males and 3 females). There was almost non-staining of PCSK9 in the para-tumor samples, while strong staining of PCSK9 in tumor samples. B. RNA sequence alignment showed the 3′-UTR of PCSK9 mRNA contains a complementary site for miR-224. Dual luciferase reporter assay was performed to confirm the miR-224 binding target. C, D. RT-PCR analysis showed that the miR-224 expression was up-regulated and PCSK9 expression was down-regulated in BON-1 cells upon miR-224 transfection at mRNA levels. E. western blot analysis showed that the endogenous PCSK9 expression was significantly reduced at protein level followed by increased expression of cleaved caspase-3 upon miR-224 agomir or siPCSK9 transfection.