Fig 2: ZRANB2 knockdown suppressed proliferation and enhanced apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma. (a) RT-qPCR was performed to confirm the knockdown efficiency of ZRANB2. (b, c) Colony formation and TUNEL assays were performed to detect the proliferation and apoptosis in MHCC97-H and Huh-7 cells after sh-ZRANB2#1/2 transfection. **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001.

Fig 3: ZRANB2 overexpression rescued the anticancer effect of silenced HLA-DQB1-AS1. (b, c) Colony formation and TUNEL assays were performed in MHCC97-H and Huh-7 cells after transfection of sh-NC and sh-HLA-DQB1-AS1 and cotransfection of sh-HLA-DQB1-AS1+pIRES-hrGFP-1a-ZRANB2. **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001.

Fig 4: HLA-DQB1-AS1 binds with ZRANB2 protein. (a) RT-qPCR analysis of ZRANB2 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines and normal liver cell line LO2. (b, c) Effects of sh-HLA-DQB1-AS1#1/2 on ZRANB2 mRNA and protein expression, as assessed by RT-qPCR and western blotting. (d) RIP assay was performed to explore the interaction between HLA-DQB1-AS1 and ZRANB2 protein in MHCC97-H and Huh-7 cells after sh-HLA-DQB1-AS1 transfection. **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001.