Fig. 3

miR-130b and miR-301b overexpression attenuate malignant phenotype of PC3 cells. a Cell viability measured by MTT assay indicates that transfection of pre-miR-130b and pre-miR-301b significantly decreased cell viability compared to pre-miR-NC transfected cells. b Either pre-miR-130b or pre-miR-301b significantly increased the relative apoptosis levels as determined by the phosphatidylserine-based assay. c Cell cycle analysis of PC3 control cells (pre-miR-NC) and PC3 overexpressing pre-miR-130b or pre-miR-301b, indicate that both miR-130b and miR-301b significantly induce cell cycle arrest at S-phase and miR-130b also causes G2/M arrest. d Invasion assay in PC3 cells transfected with the pre-miRNAs 72 h before plating in Matrigel-coated Boyden chambers. e mRNA expression levels of selected genes involved in apoptosis, cell cycle and invasion support that miR-130b and miR-301b cooperatively reverse the acquisition of malignant features of PC3 cells. f Western blot for p21, p27 and CD44 in PC3 cells, depicting selected gene overexpression upon miR-130b or miR-301b overexpression. All data are presented as mean of three independent experiments ± s.d. (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001)