Fig. 4

GACAT3 acts as a sponge of miR-149 in ESCC cells. A Sequence alignment of miR-149 with binding sites in the wild-type and mutant-type regions of GACAT3. B Negative correlation between miR-149 and GACAT3, determined by Pearson’s correlation analysis. C Relative luciferase activity in 293T cells was assessed after co-transfection with the reporter plasmid (GACAT3-wt and GACAT3-mut, respectively) and miRNAs (miR-149 and NC mimics, respectively). D miR-149 levels in KYSE-510 cells transfected with sh-GACAT3, assessed by qRT-PCR. Attenuated effects of miR-149 inhibitor on reduced (E) cell proliferation and F invasion ability related to sh-GACAT3 examined by colony formation and Matrigel transwell assays. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001