Fig. 5

miR-298 directly targets Vdr during CN-induced MSC osteoblast differentiation. a Predicted miR-298 target sequence in the 3’UTR of Vdr. b Luciferase reporter assay of MSCs co-transfected with wt or mut Vdr plasmids and miR control, miR-298 mimic or miR-298 inhibitor, which showed that overexpression of miR-298 remarkably inhibited the luciferase activity of the wild-type Vdr 3’UTR (Vdr-3’UTR-wt) construct but not that of the mutated Vdr 3’UTR (Vdr-3’UTR-mut) construct. c and d Western blot detection of Vdr, Cd38, and Col1a1 protein expression in MSCs transfected with miR-298 mimic or miR-298 inhibitor. miR control group: MSCs transfected with miR control; miR-298 mimic group: MSCs transfected with miR-298 mimic; miR-298 inhibitor group: MSCs transfected with miR-298 inhibitor. *P < 0.05 vs. the miR control group. #P < 0.05 vs. the miR-298 mimic group