Figure 4.
The RNA-binding protein HuR is a predicted target of miR-146a. (a) The NSCLC KM Plotter Tool (www.kmplot.com) was used to generate survival curves based on a patient’s overall survival in months and their HuR expression level (low or high) relative to the median value. No strong correlation was observed between HuR expression and overall survival in 524 lung squamous cell carcinoma patients, but there was a highly significant correlation between high HuR expression and overall survival in 720 lung adenocarcinoma patients (p = 5 x 10−4). (b) Predicted alignment of miR-146a binding to the HuR mRNA 3ʹ UTR. The 7-mer seed sequence is highlighted in red and bold. Numbers represent the base position within the 3ʹ UTR (1067 to 1088). (c) Diagram displaying the sequence conservation of the miR-146a seed sequence (highlighted in red) in the 3ʹ UTR of HuR orthologs across various vertebrate species. Sequences were obtained from TargetScan.