PDCD4 and SPRY1 regulate biomarkers of fibrogenic EMT in EMCs, partly via miR-21.

<p>TGF-β-incubated (20<b> </b>h) EMCs were co-transfected with an anti-miR control or an anti-miR-21 along with siRNAs against PDCD4 or SPRY (or siRNA-control; “α-CTL”), and analyzed after 24<b> </b>h for E-cadherin expression (<b>A</b>), α-SMA expression (<b>B</b>), TIMP-1 (<b>C</b>) in the culture medium (ELISA) as well as cell number (<b>D</b>), mean cell diameter (<b>E</b>), and cell motility (<b>F</b>) by the relative wound size closure in a scratch assay. qRT-PCR data were normalized against GAPDH and RPL13A. All data are presented as means+SD, n = 3 relative to the control treatment (α-CTL+anti-miR control). Statistical significance was tested by one-sample t-tests for each treatment and one-way ANOVAs followed by Tukey’s post test compared treatment effects within the PDCD4- and SPRY1-specific experiments. *<i>P</i><0.05, **<i>P</i><0.01, ***<i>P</i><0.001.