Research Paper Volume 12, Issue 13 pp 12726—12739

Figure 5. miR-22 inhibits proliferation and differentiation of HFSCs by downregulating STK40 and suppressing MEF2-ALP activity. (A) Protein expression of STK40, MEF2, ALP, differentiation-related proteins (β-catenin, TCF-4), and TA cell differentiation markers (CK15, CK19) in HFSCs normalized to GAPDH determined by Western blot analysis. (B) Colony forming capacity of HFSCs determined by colony formation assay. (C) HFSC proliferation and viability evaluated by MTS assay. (D) HFSC cell cycle changes revealed by flow cytometry. * p < 0.05 vs. NC-inhibitor group; # p < 0.05 vs. miR-22-inhibitor + si-NC group; Measurement data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. One-way ANOVA was utilized to compare data among multiple groups, followed by Tukey’s post hoc test. Repeated measures ANOVA was adopted to analyze data among multiple groups at different time points, followed by Bonferroni posttest. Cell experiments were conducted 3 times independently.