Overexpression of miR-7 or depletion of HOXB13 attenuates the roles of LincIN. (A) Expression of HOXB13 protein in HOXB13 stably depleted and control TE-1 cells detected by western blot analysis. (B) Cell growth of miR-7 and LincIN simultaneously stably overexpressed or HOXB13 stably depleted and simultaneously LincIN stably overexpressed TE-1 cells detected by CCK-8 assays. (C) Cell growth of miR-7 and LincIN simultaneously stably overexpressed or HOXB13 stably depleted and simultaneously LincIN stably overexpressed TE-1 cells detected by EdU incorporation assays. Red color indicates EdU-positive cells. Scale bars, 100 µm. (D) Cell migration of miR-7 and LincIN simultaneously stably overexpressed or HOXB13 stably depleted and simultaneously LincIN stably overexpressed TE-1 cells detected by Transwell migration assays. Scale bars, 100 µm. (E) Cell invasion of miR-7 and LincIN simultaneously stably overexpressed or HOXB13 stably depleted and simultaneously LincIN stably overexpressed TE-1 cells was detected by Transwell invasion assays. Scale bars, 100 µm. Results are shown as the means ± SD from 3 separate experiments. ***P<0.001, vs. control group; ns, not significant, determined by one-way ANOVA followed by Dunnett's multiple comparisons test. ESCC, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.