miR-125b represses the expression of BIK and MTP18. (A) Transcriptomic analysis of miR-125b-overexpressing THP-1 cells (miR-125b) as compared with negative control miRNA-precursor-transfected cells (CTRL) and miR-125b-antagomir-transfected cells (Anti-125b). Hierarchical clustering of the 419 genes with P < .05 and fold change of at least 1.5 was generated from 2 independent experiments (S = 2). (B) Analysis of differentially expressed genes in miR-125b-overexpressing THP-1 cells vs negative controls using the functional annotation of the Database for Annotation, Visualization, and Integrated Discovery, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. (C-D) Luciferase activity levels upon cotransfection of HEK293 cells with a luciferase construct (50 ng) containing 3′UTR of BIK (C) or MTP18 (D) together with control miRNA, miR-125b mimics, or antagomir (n = 3). The results are shown 48 hours after transfection and expressed as mean ± SD. Data are representative of 2 independent experiments. **P < .01 compared with control condition. (E-H) mRNA (E-F) and protein (G-H) levels of BIK (E,G) and MTP18 (F,H) in THP-1 cells transfected with control miRNA (CTRL), miR-125b mimics (miR-125b), miR-125b antagomir (Anti-125b), or siRNA targeting human BIK (si-BIK) or MTP18 (si-MTP18) (50 nM). Results are expressed as mean ± SD of 4 independent experiments. *P < .05; **P < .01; ***P < .001. A.U., arbitrary units; SD, standard deviation.