Fig. 4.

STAT3 was a down-stream target of miR-298. a The binding sites of miR-298 on STAT3. b The luciferase assay showed that cells transfected with miR-298 had less luciferase activity than those transfected with miR-ctrl. c miR-298 repressed STAT3 mRNA expression in HCC cells. d miR-298 repressed STAT3 protein expression in HCC cells. e Anti-miR-298 treatment led to the restoration of STAT3 expression in sh-LINC01287 cells. f The MTT assay revealed that sh-LINC01287 cells grew more slowly than sh-ctrl cells, while the overexpression of STAT3 rescued this effect. g The colony formation assay showed that sh-LINC01287 cells formed smaller and fewer colonies than the sh-ctrl cells, which was counteracted by the overexpression of STAT3. h LINC01287 down-regulation affected the cell cycle distribution, which was counteracted by the overexpression of STAT3. i LINC01287 down-regulation inhibited the invasion ability of HCC cells, which was rescued by the overexpression of STAT3