Mechanism of exosomal microRNA-224 in development of hepatocellular carcinoma and its diagnostic and prognostic value

Figure 1 Relative expression of exosomal microRNA-224 in the hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines compared to that of the control. ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01. miR-224: MicroRNA-224.

Figure 2 Exosomal microRNA-224 regulates hepatocellular carcinoma cell proliferation and invasion. A and B: MicroRNA-224 (miR-224) promoted cell growth as measured by the Cell Counting Kit 8 assay in HepG2 and SKHEP1 cell lines. C and D: MiR-224 can promote cell invasion in HepG2 and SKHEP1 cell lines. ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01, ^cP < 0.001. CCK8: Cell Counting Kit 8; miR-224: MicroRNA-224.

Figure 3 MicroRNA-224 targets glycine N-methyltransferase. A: MicroRNA-224 (MiR-224) mimic reduced the luciferase activity of cells transfected with the wild-type 3’-UTR but did not alter the luciferase activity of cells transfected with the mutant 3’-UTR. B: Si-glycine N-methyltransferase (siGNMT) can promote cell growth as measured by the Cell Counting Kit 8 assay in HepG2 cells. C: SiGNMT can promote cell invasion in HepG2 cells. ^bP < 0.01. CCK8: Cell Counting Kit 8; miR-224: MicroRNA-224; GNMT: Glycine N-methyltransferase.

Figure 4 Expression of serum exosomal microRNA-224 in hepatocellular carcinoma patients. A: Relative expression of serum exosomal microRNA-224 (miR-224) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and normal controls. B and C: Relative expression of serum exosomal miR-224 in HCC patients based on tumor size and tumor stage. D: The receiver operating characteristic curve of miR-224 for diagnosing HCC. ^cP < 0.001. NC: Normal controls; HCC: Hepatocellular carcinoma; ROC: Receiver operating characteristic; AUC: Area under the curve; CI: Confidence interval; miR-224: MicroRNA-224.

Figure 5 Kaplan-Meier overall survival analysis of microRNA-224.