Fig 2: miR-221 interferes with the inhibitory effects of HOXC10 on cell proliferation. (A) Colony formation and (B) EdU assays indicated that miR-221 regulated cell proliferation by targeting HOXC10 in liver cancer (×20 magnification). *P<0.05 and **P<0.01. miR, microRNA; HOXC10, homeodomain-containing gene 10; si, small interfering RNA; NC, negative control; NS, not significant.

Fig 3: HOXC10 knockdown and overexpression in human liver cancer cells. (A) HOXC10 mRNA expression levels in liver cancer cell lines. (B) si-HOXC10 transfection efficiency in Huh7 and 97H cells. (C) pcDNA3.1-HOXC10 transfection efficiency in Snu449 and PLC cells. ****P<0.0001. HOXC10, homeodomain-containing gene 10; si, small interfering RNA; NC, negative control; CTRL, control.

Fig 4: miR-221 directly targets the 3′UTR of HOXC10. (A) Transfection efficiency of miR-221 mimic and miR-221 inhibitor. (B) HOXC10 mRNA expression levels in miR-221 mimic- and miR-221 inhibitor-transfected Huh7 cells. (C) The binding site between miR-221 and HOXC10. (D) The luciferase reporter assay in 97H and Huh7 cells transfected with WT-HOXC10 or MUT-HOXC10 and miR-221 mimic or mimic-NC. (E) The luciferase reporter assay in 97H and Huh7 cells transfected with WT-HOXC10 or MUT-HOXC10 and miR-221 inhibitor or inhibitor-NC. **P<0.01 and ****P<0.001. miR, microRNA; 3′UTR, 3′-untranslated region; HOXC10, homeodomain-containing gene 10; WT, wild-type; MUT, mutant; NC, negative control.

Fig 5: Effect of HOXC10 on activation of the MAPK signaling pathway. Effect of si-HOXC10 on activation of the MAPK signaling pathway in (A) 97H and (B) Huh7 cells. HOXC10, homeodomain-containing gene 10; MAPK, mitogen-activated protein kinase; si, small interfering RNA; p, phosphorylated; NC, negative control.