Fig. 5.

Gli2 was targeted by miR-29a/b/c-3p and was positively regulated by circ-STAT3. a Venn diagram revealed the respective number of target genes of miR-29a-3p, miR-29b-3p and miR-29c-3p based on starBase database. b The number of common mRNAs which bind with miR-29a-3p, miR-29b-3p and miR-29c-3p. c The top 10 significantly abnormally expressed mRNAs in HepG2 cells normalized to control cells. d Influence of miR-29a/b/c-3p on expression of Gli2 was evaluated via qRT-PCR. Student’s t-test. e-f qRT-PCR and western blot examined influence of miR-29a/b/c-3p on expression of Gli2. One-way ANOVA. g Binding sites of wild type/mutant Gli2 and miR-29a/b/c-3p. h Luciferase activity of wild and mutant Gli2 (three different mutated Gli2 for miR-29a/b/c-3p) by miR-29a/b/c-3p mimics was revealed in luciferase reporter assay. One-way ANOVA. i RIP assay of circ-STAT3, miR-29a/b/c-3p and Gli2 in anti-IgG and anti-Ago2. Student’s t-test. ^**P < 0.01. The symbol “n.s.” indicates no significance