Fig. 5

KRAL directly interacts with miR-141. a Schematic diagram of the miR-141 binding site in the KRAL and Keap1 3’UTRs based on starBase v.2.0. b qRT-PCR data showing the relative expression of miR-141 in HepG2/5-FU and SMMC-7721/5-FU cells compared to that in their respective parent cells. U6 was used as a reference Data are expressed as the mean ± SD; columns: normalized mean of three independent experiments; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01. c Correlation between miR-141 and KRAL expression in 30 HCC tissue samples was assessed by pearson correlation analysis (r = − 0.7881, p < 0.01). d MS2-RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) followed by qRT-PCR was performed to analyse endogenous miRNAs associated with KRAL; **p < 0.01 vs the other group. e Anti-AGO2 RIP was performed in HepG2 and SMMC-7721 cells transiently transfected with miR-141, miR340 or miR-NC. The amount of KRAL enriched in the miR-transfected cells was detected by qRT-PCR, GAPDH was used as a reference, Data are expressed as the mean ± SD; columns: normalized mean of three independent experiments; ***p < 0.001 vs the other group. f Luciferase activity in HEK293T cells co-transfected with miR-141 and luciferase reporters containing nothing (pmirGLO), KRAL, or mutant KRAL (KRAL-mut). Data are presented as the relative ratio of firefly luciferase activity to Renilla luciferase activity. Data are expressed as the mean ± SD, columns: mean of three independent experiments,**p < 0.01 vs the other group