Figure 8.

Effects of miR-21 inhibition and/or TIMP3 silencing on TGF-β1/smad3 signaling pathway inhibition induced by curcumin in HCC cell lines. HepG2 and HCCLM3 cells were transfected with miR-21 inhibitor and/or si-TIMP3 sequence for 6  h and then treated with 40 μM curcumin incubated for additional 24 h. The expression of TGF-β1 and p-smad3 was evaluated by western blotting. The experiment was repeated three times; results were shown as means ± standard deviation. ^∗P < 0.05 and ^∗∗P < 0.01 vs. control group; ^%P < 0.05 and ^%%P < 0.01 vs. curcumin group; and ^#P < 0.05 and ^##P < 0.01 vs. miR-21 inhibitor+ si-TIMP3+ Cur group.