Fig. 5

The miR-17-5p/Thbs2 axis downregulates mRNA and protein levels of fibrosis-related genes. A. Diagram of the complementary pairing of miR-17-5p with the 3'UTR of the wild-type Thbs2, and its inability to interact with the Thbs2 mutant. B. The interaction between miR-17-5p and Thbs2 was verified by a double luciferase reporter gene assay. C-E. qPCR analysis of the fibrosis-related genes, Thbs2 (C), Fn (D), and Col1a1 (E), in Beas-2b cells supplemented with NC/miR-17-5p-mimics or NC/miR-17-5p-inhibitor, with or without BLM. F. Western blot analysis of the protein levels of fibrosis-related factors, including Thbs2, Fn, α-SMA, and collagen I, in Beas-2b cells supplemented with NC/miR-17-5p mimics or NC/miR-17-5p-inhibitor, with or without BLM. G-J. Statistical analysis of the expression levels of Thbs2 (G), Fn (H), α-SMA (I), and collagen I (J). The blots of Thbs2, GAPDH, α-SMA, Fn and Collagen I were all cropped (F), and full-length blots and the original blots generated alternative repeats were presented in Fig. S8. The cropped position of the gels is shown in the blank box. n = 3–5; mean ± se; *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, and ***P < 0.001