Figure 5.

TWEAK impairs microRNA-guided RNA silencing of a reporter gene induced by a pre-microRNA. HEK 293 cells expressing Flag-TWEAK (or transfected with an empty pcDNA3.1-Flag vector; Flag) were transfected with the silencing inducer pre-miR-328a (or a negative pre-microRNA control targeting a deleted region in Rluc; shNEG), and a Rluc reporter gene [16] coupled with three copies of a natural miR-328a binding site in the 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of the Rluc reporter gene. Cells were harvested 18 h later for the successive measurements of Rluc and Fluc activities (n = 3 experiments, in duplicate). * p < 0.05 versus Flag (empty vector) (Student’s t test).