Figure 2.

Knockdown of miR-21 increases PDCD4 expression and apoptosis of HUVECs in hypoxic conditions. (A) Expression of miR-21 was suppressed by the locked nucleic acid-modified anti-miR-21 oligonucleotide in hypoxic (CoCl₂-treated) HUVECs compared with scrambled control-treated cells. (B) Western blot analysis demonstrated that anti-miR-21 exposure increased PDCD4 protein expression in CoCl₂-treated HUVECs compared with the scrambled control group. (C) Apoptosis was significantly decreased in HUVECs treated with CoCl₂. (D) Anti-miR-21 treatment increased apoptosis of hypoxic HUVECs. Data are presented as the mean ± standard error of the mean. n=6 per group; *P<0.05 vs. control; ^#P<0.05 and ^##P<0.01 vs. scrambled control; CoCl_2, cobalt chloride; HUVECs, human umbilical vein endothelial cells; miR-21, microRNA-21; PDCD4, programmed cell death protein 4.