Fig. 4

Overexpression of miR-375 suppresses cervical cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion by repressing MELK expression in vitro. a MELK mRNA expression was determined by RT-qPCR in cervical cancer cells transfected with sh-MELK, miR-375 mimic, or both of miR-375 mimic and MELK vector, normalized to β-actin. b MELK protein expression was determined by Western blot analysis in cervical cancer cells transfected with sh-MELK, miR-375 mimic, or both of miR-375 mimic and MELK vector, normalized to β-actin. c Migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells transfected with sh-MELK, miR-375 mimic, or both of miR-375 mimic and MELK vector were evaluated using Transwell assay. d Proliferation of cervical cancer cells transfected with sh-MELK, miR-375 mimic, or both of miR-375 mimic and MELK vector was evaluated using EdU assay. e Apoptosis of cervical cancer cells transfected with sh-MELK, miR-375 mimic, or both of miR-375 mimic and MELK vector was evaluated using TUNEL assay. f, g The expression of cell apoptosis-related proteins (Bcl-2 and Bax), cell cycle-related proteins (CDK4 and Cyclin D1), and cell migration-related proteins (E-cadherin and Vimentin) was assessed using Western blot analysis in cervical cancer cells transfected with sh-MELK, miR-375 mimic, or both of miR-375 mimic and MELK vector, normalized to β-actin. The measurement data are presented as mean ± SD. Two groups of data are compared by an independent sample t test. *p < 0.05 compared with the NC group. The cellular experiment was repeated three times independently