Fig. 2.

miR-142 locus hypermethylation is associated with miR-142-3p downregulation in NPC with distant metastasis. a Schematic location of CpG islands (blue area) within the miR-142 locus. The transcriptional start site is indicated with an arrow. The regions analyzed by bisulfite pyrosequencing are listed (bottom panel). b, c Bisulfite pyrosequencing analysis and quantitative methylation levels of fresh-frozen normal nasopharyngeal epithelial tissues (n = 8) and NPC (n = 8) (b) and paraffin-embedded NPC specimens (n = 228) (c). Student’s t test, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01. d, e Methylation levels (d) and miR-142-3p expression (e) in NPC cell lines with or without 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (DAC) treatment. Mean (n = 3) ± s.d. Student’s t test, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01