*2.5. Reverse Transcription and Quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR)*

Total RNA was extracted from cells using TRizol Reagent (Thermo Fisher Scientific) and reverse-transcribed using the PrimeScript RT reagent Kit (TaKaRa, Dalian, China) following the manufacturer's instructions. The qPCR was conducted using 2×RealStar Green Fast Mixture 2× PCR (GenStar, Beijing, China). Transcripts of the β-actin were also amplified and used to normalize total RNA input. The relative quantification of target gene expression was calculated with the 2−ΔΔCt method. Primers used for qPCR and their sequences are listed in Table 1.


**Table 1.** Primers and corresponding sequence used for qPCR.
