Figure 3.

LincRNA-p21 acts as a molecular sponge for miR-18b. The 3’-UTR binding sites can be seen in (A). Luciferase reporter assay confirmed the binding with the decreasing fluorescence within miR-18b mimic and lincRNA-p21 wild type (B). MiR-18b expression levels were significantly up-regulated after cells were transfected with si-lincRNA-p21 (C, *P<0.05). (D) showed that miR-18b mRNA expression was significantly down-regulated in MMCs under high glucose condition over time (*P<0.05). MTT assay revealed that miR-18b inhibitor could rescue the suppression by si-lincRNA-p21 in the proliferation of MMCs under high glucose for 72 h (E, *P<0.05).