Fig. 6

Expression of HNF4A-AS1, hnRNPU, CTCF, or target gene is associated with outcome of NB. a and b Western blot (a) and real-time qRT-PCR (b, normalized to β-actin) assays revealing the levels of hnRNPU, CTCF, and their downstream target genes in normal dorsal root ganglia (DG) and NB tissues (n = 42) of different clinical stages. c Kaplan-Meier curves indicating overall survival in 42 NB patients with low or high expression of HNF4A-AS1 in tumor tissues or serum (cutoff values = 4.29 and 2.71). d Kaplan-Meier curves showing overall survival of NB cases (GSE45547) with low or high expression levels of hnRNPU (cutoff value = 16058.0), CTCF (cutoff value = 2462.2), CLU (cutoff value = 18617.9), CXCR4 (cutoff value = 23442.9), TPBG (cutoff value = 623.7), or UACA (cutoff value = 437.3). e The mechanisms underlying HNF4A-AS1-promoted tumor progression: as a MYCN-facilitated lncRNA, HNF4A-AS1 directly binds to hnRNPU to promote its interaction with CTCF, resulting in transactivation of CTCF, altered transcription of downstream target genes, and promotion of aerobic glycolysis and tumor progression. ANOVA analyzed the differences in b. Log-rank test for survival comparison in c and d. *P < 0.05 vs. DG. Data are shown as mean ± s.e.m. (error bars) in b