Fig 2: Down-regulation of SNHG20 inhibited the tumor growth in vivo. (A) sh-SNHG20 remarkably suppressed the tumor growth; (B) Representative pictures of tumors in vivo; (C) Measurement of tumor weight; (D) Measurement of ki67 and ROCK1 expression in the tumor tissues using immunohistochemical staining; The levels of SNHG20 (E), miR-148a (F), ROCK1 (G) in tumor tissues were assessed by qPCR; (H) The protein expression of SNHG20 in tumor tissues was evaluated by western blotting. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001

Fig 3: ROCK1 is a direct target of miR-139-5p. TargetScan predicted that ROCK1 was a direct downstream target of miR-139-5p. (A) Putative ROCK1 binding site on miR-139-5p (ROCK1-WT). (B) 293T cells were co-transfected with NC mimics or miR-139-5p mimics with ROCK1-WT or ROCK1-MUT. **P<0.01 vs. miR-NC. ROCK1, Rho-associated kinase 1; miR, microRNA; WT, wild-type; MUT, mutant; NC, negative control.

Fig 4: miR-139-5p overexpression reduces LPS-induced apoptosis by targeting ROCK1 in NHBEs. (A) Proportion of apoptotic cells among transfected NHBEs was determined using flow cytometry. (B) Expression levels of Bax, Bcl-2, cleaved caspase-3 and caspase-3 in the treated NHBEs were determined using western blotting (left, representative blots; right, densitometry analysis). Data are presented as the mean ± standard deviation. ***P<0.001 vs. control; ###P<0.001 vs. miR-NC; ΔP<0.01 and ΔΔΔP<0.001 vs. miR-139-5p mimics + Vector. NHBEs, normal human bronchial epithelial cells; ROCK1, Rho-associated kinase 1; miR, microRNA; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; NC, negative control; Ov, overexpression.

Fig 5: Ripasudil alleviated the inflammatory damage by mediating the expression of miR-136-5p. a The relative expression of miR-136-5p in RPE cells was detected with the RT-PCR. b The levels of miR-136-5p in RPE cells were determined after the application of miR-136-5p inhibitor. c The sequences of mature miR-136-5p and putative target sites of wild type ROCK1 and ROCK2. The mutant sequences of ROCK1 and ROCK2 were marked with red color. d Luciferase activity was determined in the miR-136-5p inhibitor and negative control groups. e The protein levels of ROCK1 and ROCK2 were detected after the application of miR-136-5p. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001