Figure 4.

Bcl2L10 was a direct target of miR-18a.

Notes: (A) The predicted binding site of miR-18a in the 3′-UTR of Bcl2L10. (B) miR-18a mimic significantly inhibited the luciferase activities of Bcl2L10-3′-UTR-Wt reporter in both cell lines (P<0.001), while it exhibited no inhibitory effects on the luciferase activities of Bcl2L10-3′-UTR-Mut reporter in HCC cells (P>0.05). (C) The mRNA expression of Bcl2L10 was much lower in HCC tissues compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues (P<0.001). (D) Immunochemistry showed that the protein expression of Bcl2L10 was much lower in HCC tissues than that in adjacent non-tumor tissue (P<0.01). Scale bars =20 µm. (E) Western blot analysis revealed that the protein expression of Bcl2L10 was higher in adjacent non-tumor tissues than in HCC tissues (P<0.01). (F) miR-18a expression negatively correlated with Bcl2L10 mRNA expression in HCC tissues (R²=0.405, P<0.01, correlation coefficient =−0.636). Data were reported as mean ± SD. **P<0.01 and ***P<0.001.

Abbreviations: HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; miR-18a, microRNA-18a; Bcl2L10, Bcl2 like 10; Wt, wild-type; Mut, mutant.