Research Paper Volume 11, Issue 21 pp 9569—9580
TGF-β- and lipopolysaccharide-induced upregulation of circular RNA PWWP2A promotes hepatic fibrosis via sponging miR-203 and miR-223
Figure 2. Effect of circ-PWWP2A on activation and proliferation of HSCs. (A) Overexpressing circ-PWWP2A was done by transfecting Ad-circ-PWWP2A into LX-2 cells. (B) Protein expression of α-SMA and Col1α1, both of which were activated HSC markers. (C) HSC proliferation was detected using CCK-8 assay. (D) Interfering circ-PWWP2A was done by transfecting siRNA of circ-PWWP2A (siRNA-1 and siRNA-2) in TGF-β- or LPS-activated LX-2 cells. (E) Protein expression of α-SMA and Col1α1. (F) Cell proliferation of activated-HSCs. **p<0.05 vs Ad-GFP or negative control; ##p<0.01 vs TGF-β+si-control or LPS+si-control. Ad-GFP, adenoviral vectors carrying green fluorescent protein genes that act as the control. CCK-8, cell counting kit-8. siRNA, small interfering RNA.