Fig. 2

Smad7 is the direct target of miR-497. a Bioinformatics analysis as predicted by TargetScan, miRanda, miRDB, and miRWalk showed that miR-497 has binding sites in the Smad7 3′ UTR of different species. b Relative firefly luciferase activity in 293 T cells that were co-transfected with pmiRGLO-empty vector (16 μg/ml), Smad7 3′-UTR WT (16 μg/ml), or Smad7 3′-UTR MUT (16 μg/ml) with miR-497 mimics (800 pmol/ml) using Lipofectamine 2000. Overexpression of miR-497 in LX-2 cells suppressed the expression of Smad7. LX-2 cells were transfected by miR-497 mimics for 48 h, and the cells were harvested. The relative expression of miR-497 (c), Smad7 mRNA transcripts (d), and Smad7 protein (e) were determined. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001, compared with the indicated group. All the data represent at least three independent experiments