Fig. 4

JAG2 is a direct target of miR-541. (A) Western blot analysis of JAG2 expression in LX-2 cells treated by TGF-β (5ng/ml) and transfected with the miR-541 mimic or miR-541 inhibitor. (B) Real-time PCR analysis of JAG2 expression in the cirrhotic liver tissues and normal liver tissues, with medians of 1.50849 × 10^− 4 and 2.13686 × 10^− 4, respectively; p = 0.0365, non-parametric Mann-Whitney test. (C) The correlation of JAG2 expression and miR-541 levels in the cirrhotic liver tissues. p = 0.0065 by Spearman’s correlation coefficient test. (D) Predicted sequential pairing of the target region and the parallel mutant sequences in the 3’UTR of JAG2 (bottom) with miR-541 (top) using the prediction programs. Seed sequences are highlighted, and mutant sequences are shown in green. (E) Effect of miR-541 on the JAG2 3’UTR. Luciferase reporter plasmids carrying the JAG2 3’UTR (JAG2), and JAG2 3’UTR with miR-541 target-sequence mutation (JAG2 Mut) were co-transfected into HEK293 cells with the miR-541 mimic or NC. *** p < 0.001 using two-tailed Student’s t-tests. NS, not significant. Experiments were performed in triplicate and data are presented as means ± SD.