Figure 2.

Atg14 Is a Direct Target of miR-135a

(A) Schematic representation of predicted miR-135a binding sequence at the 3′ UTR of atg14 gene. (B) Hep3B cells were transfected with FVII siRNA for 24 hr. FVII protein (left) and Atg14 mRNA (right) levels were determined. (C) HCC cell lines Hep3B (left) and HepG2 (right) were transfected with a miR-135a mimic (20 nM, 40 nM), and the mRNA level of Atg14 was evaluated after 24 hr. (D) Hep3B cells were co-transfected with a miR-135a mimic and a reporter construct that contained the wild-type (WT) or mutated (MT) miR-135a binding sequence. Post-transcriptional repression was determined by measuring the relative luciferase activity. (E) Correlations of HCC tumor/normal ratios of Atg14 and miR-135a expression were depicted. (F) Kaplan-Meier probability distributions showing disease-free survival according to miR-135a levels in HCC tumors compared with their paired non-tumor tissues. The data are presented as mean ± SD. Statistically significant compared with controls at *p < 0.05; ***p < 0.001.