Figure 4.

Knockdown of WTAP facilitating autophagy through upregulation of LKB1. (A) Venn diagram showing the difference in m⁶A peaks between shCON and shWTAP cell lines. (B) Conserved m⁶A motif found in schON and shWTAP HCC cell lines. (C) Signal pathway analysis of the different m⁶A modified genes between shCON and shWTAP HCC cell lines. (D) The m⁶A motif found in LKB1 transcript through sequencing. (E) MeRIP-qPCR analysis of cellular m⁶A levels in shCON and shWTAP HCC cell lines. (F) RT-qPCR used for the abundance analysis of LKB1 transcript in shCON and shWTAP HCC cell lines. (G) Half-life analysis of RNA stability of LKB1 transcript in shCON and shWTAP HCC cell lines. (H) Western blot analysis of LKB1, p-AMPK, LC3-I and LC3-II in shCON and shWTAP cells. (I) Western blot analysis of LKB1, p-AMPK, LC3-I and LC3-II in shCON and shWTAP cells, as well as in siLKB1 cells. (J) Statistical analysis of LC3 -II/LC3-I ratio between shCON and shWTAP-treated 7404 and 7721 cell lines. Error bars indicate the mean ± SD from three independent experiments (n = 3). * indicate a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) and ** indicate a statistically significant difference (p < 0.01), *** indicate a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001).