Fig. 6

CircItgb5 regulates mTOR expression through sponging miR-96-5p. A A cytoscape was used to visualize miR-96-5p-target genes interaction based on TargetScan. Six genes highlighted in purple were previously reported to be related to PH. B Expression of the selected six genes in PASMCs was determined by RT-qPCR. *0.01 ≤ P ≤ 0.05 versus mimic control. C, D The luciferase activities of wild-type (WT) or mutant (MUT) pGL3-mTOR 3'UTR in 293 T cells cotransfected with miR-96-5p mimic or mimic control. The red letter represents mutated sequences. The mutation principle: G to U, U to G, C to A, A to C. **0.001 ≤ P ≤ 0.009 versus mimic control. E mTOR expression was determined by western blotting after the corresponding treatment in PASMCs. **0.001 ≤ P ≤ 0.009 versus mimic control, ^#0.01 ≤ P ≤ 0.05 versus iCon. iCon, inhibitor control. F mTOR expression was determined by western blotting after the miR-96-5p inhibitor rescue experiment in PASMCs. *0.01 ≤ P ≤ 0.05 versus (Lsh-NC + iCon), ^#0.01 ≤ P ≤ 0.05 versus (Lsh-circItgb5 + iCon). G Relative mTOR level was detected in the lungs and PASMCs after the corresponding treatment. *0.01 ≤ P ≤ 0.05 versus control, ^#0.01 ≤ P ≤ 0.05 versus Lsh-NC. All data are presented as means ± SD (n = 3 biological replicates)