Fig. 5. IGFBP3 is a direct target of miR-133a-5p.
a Schematic diagram showed the overlap of miR-133a-5p target predicted by miRDB, miR-tarbase, TargetScan, and miRwalk. b, c qRT-PCR was performed to determine the relative expression of six selected genes in 5–8F and CNE-2 cells transfected with si-NC or si-circ-0046263. d The protein levels of IGFBP3 in NPC cells transfected with miR-133a-5p mimic or control were evaluated by Western blot analysis. e The protein level of IGFBP3 after knocking down miR-133a-5p was detected by Western blot analysis. f mRNA expressions of the IGFBP3 was detected by qRT-PCR. g Schematic diagram of the complementary sequence between miR-133a-5p and IGFBP3. h Dual luciferase reporter assays indicated that miR-133a-5p bound to the 3ʹ-UTR of IGFBP3 and inhibited luciferase activity. Values represent the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01.