Silencing of HULC partially reverses LPS-induced apoptosis and inflammation in a cell model of sepsis. (A) HULC expression levels in HMEC-1 cells treated with LPS or DMSO (control). (B) HULC expression in HMEC-1 cells transfected with si-HULC or si-NC. (C-F) HMEC-1 cells treated with LPS or DMSO (control) were transfected with si-HULC or si-NC. (C) Apoptotic rate of transfected HMEC-1 cells. (D) Protein expression levels of cleaved-cas3 and cleaved-cas9 in transfected HMEC-1 cells. The (E) mRNA and (F) protein expression levels of IL-6, TNF-α, ICAM1 and VCAM1 in transfected HMEC-1 cells. **P<0.01. HULC, highly upregulated in liver cancer; ICAM1, intercellular adhesion molecule; VCAM1, vascular cell adhesion molecule; siRNA, small interfering RNA; NC, negative control; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; HMEC-1, human dermal microvascular endothelial cells; DMSO, dimethyl sulfoxide; cas, caspase.