Fig. 5

The anti-leukemic effects of HMAs are partly mediated by increasing the expression of miR-125a. a THP1 cells were transiently transfected with a miR-125a-specific hairpin inhibitor (THP1 miR-125a KD) and scrambled control (THP1 control KD), respectively. b miR-125a was deleted in U937 by employing the CRISPR/Cas9 technology (U937 miR-125a KO); parental U937 cells were used as controls. Apoptosis was measured after 24-h treatment with Aza (2.5 µM for THP1, 5 µM for U937; indicated as +) or empty dissolvent (indicated as −) by Annexin-V/7AAD assays. The respective control situations (treated with the empty dissolvent only) were set at a value of 1, and the relative increase in apoptosis in the Aza-treated conditions was calculated as the ratio of Aza-treated to control-treated cells. The graphs represent the mean ± SD of at least three independent experiments. Statistical significance was evaluated using a paired Student’s t test