Figure 7.

HK2 Is a Direct Target of miR-885-5p, and Both Are Prognostic Biomarkers in HCC

(A) The mRNA and protein levels were measured by (a) qRT-PCR and (b) western blot in SMMC-7721 cells transfected with miR-885-5p mimics. (c) Alignment of potential miR-885-5p binding site in the 3′ UTR of HK2. (d) Luciferase assay. SMMC-7721 cells were transfected with a dual-luciferase reporter vector containing the 3′ UTR of HK2 or a mutated 3′ UTR. At 24 h after the transfection, cells were further transfected with miR-885-5p or miR-NC, and dual-luciferase activity was measured. (B) The expression of HK2 in liver and prognostic analysis. (a) The protein expression levels of HK2 in indicated hepatoma cell lines and PHHCs. (b) The expression level of HK2 in human liver specimens of cancer tissues and paired pericarcinomatous tissues (C and P, respectively) (200×). (c) Bar plot of the gene expression profile across all tumor samples and paired normal tissues from TCGA datasets. The height of the bars represents the median expression of a certain tumor type or normal tissue. The red arrow marks the expression of the HK2 gene in liver cancer tissue and its matched paracancerous tissues. (d) The expression level of HK2 in normal liver and hepatocellular carcinoma from 4 different Human Genome Arrays in TCGA datasets. (e) KM analysis of the correlation between HK2 expression and OS in the 364-patient TCGA cohort. (f) KM analysis of the correlation between miR-885-5p expression and overall survival in the 165-patient cohort. Log-rank tests were used to determine statistical significance. Data were presented as mean ± SEM of three independent experiments. **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; n.s., not significant.