Fig. 3.

PDCD4 was a direct target of miR-497-5p and was downregulated in HCC. a The putative binding sequence for miR-497-5p in the 3′-UTR of PDCD4. b Luciferase activity assay revealed that the miR-497-5p mimic suppressed PDCD4 3′-UTR WT luciferase activity, while it had no effect on PDCD4 Mut luciferase activity in HCC cells. c The mRNA expression of PDCD4 was examined in Huh7 and HepG2 cells after transfection with miR-497-5p inhibitor. d The protein expression of PDCD4 was examined by western blot in Huh7 and HepG2 cells after transfection with miR-497-5p inhibitor. e qRT-PCR was used to measure the expression of PDCD4 in HCC tumor tissues and matched normal tissues. f Low expression of PDCD4 was observed in HCC tissues by western blot. g The expression of PDCD4 was negatively correlated with the expression of miR-497-5p in HCC. Error bars represent the mean ± SD from three independent experiments. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01. IHC immunohistochemistry, NC negative control, Mut mutated, UTR untranslated region, WT wild type