miR-138-5p Inhibits Vascular Mimicry by Targeting the HIF-1α/VEGFA Pathway in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Figure 1

miR-138-5p is frequently downregulated in HCC tissues and HCC cell lines compared to control, and low miR-138-5p expression is associated with a high VM density and high HIF-1α and VEGFA levels and indicates a poor prognosis in HCC patients. (a) and (b) RT–PCR analysis showed that miR-138-5p was more highly expressed in HCC tissues than in paratumour tissues. (c) RT–PCR analysis showed that miR-138-5p was expressed at lower levels in HCC cell lines than in human normal hepatocytes (MIHA cells).(d) CD31/PAS double staining was used to assess VM formation (red arrow). Immunohistochemical staining was used to assess HIF-1α and VEGFA expression. The results showed that miR-138-5p expression was related to VM density and HIF-1α and VEGFA levels. (e) The correlation between miR-138-5p and HIF-1α mRNA levels in 23 HCC tissues. The ΔCt values were subjected to Pearson correlation analysis. (f) The correlation between miR-138-5p and HIF-1α mRNA levels in the HepG2 cell line (9 repeats). The ΔCt values were subjected to Pearson correlation analysis. (g)–(i) The log-rank (Mantel–Cox) test showed that HCC patients with low miR-138-5p levels and high HIF-1α and VEGFA levels demonstrated worse OS than other patients from the KM-Plotter database. Statistical significance was set as follows: represents , represents , and represents .

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