Fig. 1

Identification of miRNA-18a associated with HIF-1α in OSCC. A Predictive analysis of HIF-1α and miRNAs according to three miRNA databases (Targetscan, MiRDB, and PICTAR). B Schematic drawing showing the specific binding sites between HIF-1α and the miR-17-92 cluster according to the results of a sequence alignment assay. C mRNA expression of miR-17, -18a, -19a, and -20a in OSCC relative to that in adjacent normal tissues, as assessed using qRT-PCR. U6 was used as the control gene. D mRNA expression of HIF-1α and p53 in OSCC tissues relative to that in adjacent normal tissues according to qRT-PCR analysis. GAPDH was used as the control gene. *Significant difference in expression between the nontumor and tumor conditions (p < 0.05). Tissue samples were pooled. All experiments were performed at least in triplicate. miR-17, microRNA-17; miR-18a, microRNA-18a; miR-20, microRNA-20a; miRs, microRNAs; Nor, normal tissue; OSCC, oral squamous cell carcinoma