*3.2. Identification of Ankrd52, Clcn5 and Peg10 as Potential Target Genes*

To investigate a potential function of miRNA-451a, miRNA-142-5p, Let-7f-5p, and miRNA-378a-3p in the HSC-activation process, a bioinformatics-based target prediction was carried out, using four different predictive algorithms: TargetScan, miRDB, starBase, and miRTarBase. Of all putative targets, thirteen genes are suggested to have all four miRNAs as post-transcriptional regulators (Figure 2A). The analysis of mRNA expression in activated HSCs, compared to freshly isolated quiescent HSCs, identified three genes that remained stable during the activation process (Figure 2B), three genes that were up-regulated (Figure 2C), and seven genes that were down-regulated (Figure 2D) upon HSC-activation. The genes that were up-regulated upon HSC activation, *Ankrd52*, *Clcn5*, and *Peg10*, are of particular interest, as miRNAs are known to regulate gene expression in a dominantly negative manner.
