Fig. 6

Exosomal miR-494-3p regulates sorafenib resistance in HCC cells. a, b IC₅₀ value were decreased in miR-494-3p-silenced, and increased in miR-494-3p-overexpressing HCC cells. c SNU-449-NC, SNU-449-miR-494-3p, SNU-449-anti-NC and SNU-449-anti-miR494-3p cells were treated with sorafenib (10 μmol/L) for 48 h, then, treated cells were harvested to detect Bcl-2 and Bax levels. GAPDH was used as the loading control. d MHCC-97H cells transfected with NC, miR-494-3p mimics, anti-NC and miR-494-3p inhibitor, respectively were exposed to 20 μmol/L sorafenib for 48 h, and Bcl-2 and Bax levels determined by WB. e, f Histogram for the ratio of relative gray values of Bcl-2 and Bax proteins in c and d. g The decrease in IC₅₀ value in SNU-449 cells transfected with the miR-494-3p inhibitor was partly reversed by exosomes derived from GOLPH3-overexpressed SNU-449 cells. h For SNU-449 cells transfected with the anti-NC or miR-494-3p inhibitor incubated with indicated exosomes and treated with sorafenib (10 μmol/L) for 48 h, Bcl-2 and Bax levels in indicated cells were determined by western blot, with GAPDH as the normalized control. i The histogram describes the Bcl-2/Bax ratios in h by gray value analysis. Data are expressed as mean  ±  SD from 3 independent experiments and analyzed by t test (a, b, g) or two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test (e, f, i). *p  < 0.05; **p  < 0.01; ***p  < 0.001