Research Paper Volume 12, Issue 9 pp 8339—8351

Figure 2. HSF1 positively regulates the expression of miR-214 to affect the proliferation and fibrogenic transformation of HEPFs. (A) The HSF1 expression in HEPFs transfected with three si-HSF1 sequences determined at mRNA and protein levels by RT-qPCR and western blot analysis, respectively. *, p < 0.05 vs. cells transfected with si-NC. (B) The expression of miR-214 and mRNA and protein levels of HSF1 in the HEPFs co-transfected with si-HSF1/si-NC and miR-214 agomir/agomir-NC measured by RT-qPCR and western blot analysis. *, p < 0.05 vs. cells co-transfected with si-NC and agomir NC, #, p < 0.05 vs. cells transfected with si-HSF1 and agomir NC. (C) The viability of HEPFs co-transfected with si-HSF1/si-NC and miR-214 agomir/agomir-NC assessed by CCK8 experiment. *, p < 0.05 vs. cells co-transfected with si-NC and agomir NC, #, p < 0.05 vs. cells co-transfected with si-HSF1 and agomir NC. (D) The mRNA and protein levels of cell proliferation marker Ki67 and fibrosis biomarkers CoI, CoIII, α-SMA and vimentin in the HEPFs co-transfected with si-HSF1/si-NC and miR-214 agomir/agomir-NC assessed by qRT-PCR and western blot analysis, respectively. *, p < 0.05 vs. cells co-transfected with si-NC and agomir NC, #, p < 0.05 vs. cells co-transfected with si-HSF1 and agomir NC. Statistical data were measurement data, and presented as mean ± standard deviation. Unpaired t-test was used for comparison between the two groups, and one-way ANOVA with Tukey's post hoc test was employed for comparisons among multiple groups. The experiment was independently repeated three times.