Figure 1

Identification of miR-133a as a candidate involved in EMT of airway epithelial cells. (a) Phase contrast images of Beas-2b cells with epithelial (left) or mesenchymal (right) phenotype. Control Beas-2b epithelial cells have extensive interactions with each other while Beas-2b/M cells are spindle-like and interact with each other only though focal points. Scale bars, 100 µm. (b) Western blot analysis of EMT associated proteins in Beas-2b and Beas-2b/M cells. Experiments were conducted at least three times, and a representative result is shown. The grouped blots were cropped from different parts of the same gel. Unprocessed original scans of the blots are shown in Supplementary Fig. S5. (c) MiRNA sequencing was used to profile the miRNA expression in Beas-2b and Beas-2b/M cells. The upper table lists the top ten down-regulated miRNAs and the lower table lists the top ten up-regulated miRNAs in Beas-2b/M cells compared to epithelial Beas-2b cells. Normalized log₂ data shown are the average of duplicates. (d) TaqMan quantitative PCR validation of miR-133a up-regulation in Beas-2b/M cells when compared to epithelial-like Beas-2b cells. RUN6B was used as endogenous control. Data are means ± S.E. (n = 4; **P < 0.01).