Fig. 1.

miR-224 overexpressed in CRC tissues promotes cell migration and invasion of human CRC cells. a miR-224 expression was increased in CRC tumor tissues in all the stages compared with the normal tissues according to the data from TCGA, but miR-224 levels had no significant differences statistically in comparison between any two stages. TPM: transcripts per million. ****p < 0.0001. b Gene expressions of miR-224 after 48 h of transfection with miR-224 mimics or miR-224 inhibitors in HCT-116 cells. c Gene expressions of miR-224 after 48 h of transfection with miR-224 mimics or miR-224 inhibitors in DLD-1 cells by RT-qPCR. The expression of miR-224 was normalized by miR-224 expression in NC-transfected cells. NC: negative control. d, e Representative images (left) and quantification (right) of migrated cells across a transwell insert in HCT-116 and DLD-1 cells after 48 h of transfection with miR-224 mimics or miR-224 inhibitors, respectively. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. f, g Representative images (left) and quantification (right) of invaded cells across a transwell insert in HCT-116 and DLD-1 cells after 48 h of transfection with miR-224 mimics or miR-224 inhibitors, respectively. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01