Fig. 4

SMAD4 is a potential downstream target of hsa-miR-146a-5p. (A) Venn diagram displays potential downstream targets of hsa-miR-146a-5p. (B) The binding sites between SMAD4 and hsa-miR-146a-5p. (C) The luciferase reporter gene assays showed that the luciferase activity of 293T cells was significantly reduced when the luciferase reporter gene plasmid containing the wild-type SMAD4 3’-UTR sequence was co-transferred with hsa-miR-146a-5p (n = 3, *** p < 0.001). (D) The expression level of SMAD4 significantly increased in clinical nucleus pulposus samples of spinal tuberculosis (n = 30, *** p < 0.001). (E) The expression level of SMAD4 in spinal tuberculosis nucleus pulposus tissue is significantly positively correlated with the expression level of HCG18 (n = 30, p < 0.0001, R = 0.7586). (F) The expression level of SMAD4 in spinal tuberculosis nucleus pulposus tissue is significantly negatively correlated with the expression level of hsa-miR-146a-5p (n = 30, p < 0.0001, R = -0.6858)