Fig. 5

VDR regulates the expression of POSTN in presence of calcipotriol. a Vitamin D receptor (VDR) expression in activated HSCs (LX2 and pHSC) and HCC cell lines (MHCC97H, Hep3B, HepG2 and Huh7) was detected by Western blot. b The markers and activities of activated HSCs (α-SMA, COL1A1, COL1A2, Ki-67, and POSTN) were down-regulated in LX2 cells and pHSC cells by calcipotriol treatment, as analyzed using qRT-PCR. c Protein expression of α-SMA, POSTN and collagen-1 were reduced in LX2 cells and pHSC cells by calcipotriol treatment, as measured by western blot. d Results of Luciferase reporter assay for POSTN promoter constructs. A ~ 2-kb-long POSTN promoter and its serial deletion constructs were measured in HEK 293T cells and results of the firefly luciferase were normalized to the Renilla luciferase activity. e Luciferase activity of mutant reporter plasmids that the two putative VDR transcription factor binding sites were altered by site-directed mutagenesis in the full-length POSTN promoter. Calcipotriol, Cal. VDR, VDR-expressing plasmid. **P < 0.01; *P < 0.05