Transfection

For transfection, HUVECs were cultured to 70 % confluence and transfected with 30nM miR-106b mimic (Ambion, Cat. No.4464066) or miR-106 inhibitor (Ambion, Cat. No.AM17000) oligonucleotides using Lipofectin (Invitrogen, Cat. No.18292-011) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. For miR-106b mimic transfection, there were three different treatment groups prepared, which were: mimic group (HUVECs transfected with miR-106b mimic plus Lipofectin), mock group (HUVECs mixed with only Lipofectin) and negative-control group [HUVECs transfected with miRNA mimic negative control (Ambion, Cat. No.4464058) plus Lipofectin]; similarly, for transfection of miR-106b inhibitor, there were inhibitor group (HUVECs transfected with miR-106b inhibitor plus Lipofectin), mock group (HUVECs mixed with only Lipofectin) and negative-control group [HUVECs transfected with miRNA inhibitor negative control (Ambion, Cat. No.4464076) plus Lipofectin]. For transfection of 293 T cells with STAT3 plasmids, miR-106b mimic was transfected with Lipofectamine^TM 2000 (Invitrogen, Cat. No.11668027) to the plasmid/Lipofectamine^TM 2000 transfection mix with the final concentrations of 50nM.