miR-9 modulates expression of eIF-5A-2 in HCC cell lines. (A) miR-9 target site in eIF-5A-2 predicted by TargetScan. (B) Expression of miR-9 and eIF-5A-2 mRNA in HCC cells as determined by RT-qPCR. *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001 vs. Huh7; #P<0.05, ##P<0.01 vs. Hep3B. (C) eIF-5A-2 expression in HCC cells following treatment with a miR-9 mimic or inhibitor as determined by RT-qPCR. **P<0.01, ***P<0.001 vs. the control. (D) Expression levels of miR-9 following treatment with a miR-9 mimic or inhibitor as determined by RT-qPCR. *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001 vs. the control (E) Western blot analysis was used to detect eIF-5A-2 expression in the various HCC cell lines in the presence of the miR-9 mimic, inhibitor and control. *P<0.05 vs. negative siRNA. miR-9, microRNA-9; eIF-5A-2; eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A-2; HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; RT-qPCR, reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction; miRNA, microRNA; UTR, untranslated region.