Fig. 3

MiR-7-5p directly targets NOVA2 expression. a – The sequence of human miR-7-p and the predicted binding sites with miR-7-5p within the NOVA2 untranslated region (3′-UTR) are shown. b – MiR-7-5p treatment suppressed NOVA2 expression in A549 and SPCA-1 cells. The cells were cultured with or without miR-7-5p for 24 h, and then collected and used for western blotting assays to determine NOVA2 expression. β-actin was set as a loading control. The quantitative data from western blotting assays were measured with ImageJ software. Data are ratios of NOVA2 to β-actin. c – MiR-7-5p stimulation inhibited NOVA2 mRNA in A549 and SPCA-1 cells. A549 cells were co-transfected with luciferase plasmids containing the wild-type (WT) NOVA2 3′-UTR or mutant-type (Mut) NOVA2 3′-UTR. The cells were also treated with miR-7-5p at the same time. The cells were lysed to measure the relative luciferase activity. Quantitative data are presented as the means ± SEM, n = 3. ***p < 0.001 compared with the NC mimic group. d – NOVA2 expression in NSCLC tissues and adjacent non-tumor tissues was measured using qPCR. Quantitative data are presented as the means ± SEM. ***p < 0.001 compared with the NC mimic group. e – NOVA2 expression in a panel of human lung cell lines and human lung epithelial BEAS-2B cells. NOVA2 expression in BEAS-2B cells was set as 100%. Quantitative data are presented as the means ± SEM, n = 3. ***p < 0.001 compared with the BEAS-2B group. f – Analysis of the correlation between miR-7-5p and NOVA2 expression in tumors. NOVA2 expression was inversely correlated with miR-7-5p expression in NSCLC tissues. The miR-206 mRNA level was set as the X axes, and the TFR1 mRNA level was set as the Y axes. R stands for goodness of fit. The p value stands for slope significance