Fig. 5

Ectopic miR-224 expression affected expression of PHLPP1 and PHLPP2 proteins and changed the AKT signaling in ESCC cells. a Western blot. Esophageal cancer Eca109 and TE13 cell lines were grown and transiently transfected with miR-224 mimics and inhibitor, and then subjected to Western blot analysis. b Immunofluorescence analysis of PHLPP1 and PHLPP2 expression in transfected Eca109 cell line. From the left to right, the first panel is DAPI staining, the second is PHLPP1/2 staining, and the third one is overlap. Error bars represent the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. miR-224 M, miR-224 mimic; miR-224I, miR-224 inhibitor; NC, negative control; *p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01