Figure 1.

Results of luciferase reporter assays to determine if miR-520a bound to the 3ʹ untranslated regions (UTRs) of the AKT gene in HepG2.2.15 cells (A). The data are presented as mean ± SD from three independent experiments; Student’s t-test; **P < 0.01; pmirGLO-NULL, negative control vector; pmirGLO-AKT 3ʹUTR, vector cloned with the 3′UTR of AKT mRNA. Western blot analysis was undertaken to determine the effect of miR-520a on the levels of AKT protein in HepG2.2.15 cells (B). NC, negative control. The loading control for the Western blot was β-actin.