Figure 6

HMGA2 is a functional target of let-7a to regulate NPC cells migration and invasion and expression of EMT-associated genes. (A) The migration assay suggested that co-transfection of let-7a mimics and HMGA2-siRNA didn’t profoundly reduce NPC cells migration in comparison to HMGA2-siRNA+let-7a mimics-NC and NC-siRNA+let-7a mimics. (B) The invasion assay indicated that co-transfection of let-7a mimics and HMGA2-siRNA didn’t further suppress thfce invasiveness of NPC cells compared with HMGA2-siRNA+let-7a mimics-NC and NC-siRNA+let-7a mimics. (C) Transfection of let-7a mimics reduced the expression of EMT-marker genes including Vimentin, MMP2, MMP9, Snail and Slug, and promoted E-cadherin and Zo-1 expression. Knocking down endogenous HMGA2 expression decreased the expression of EMT-marker genes including Vimentin, MMP2, MMP9, Snail and Slug, and increased E-cadherin and Zo-1 expression.