To gain insight into compound mode of action, C1's effect on pre-miR-377 levels. As expected, an accumulation of pre-miR-377 was observed, suggesting that Dicer is unable to process the RNA and confirming our in vitro data (Fig. ). We next measured if repression of miR-377, de-repressed the Vegfa mRNA. RT-qPCR showed that indeed, C1 caused an ~30% increase in Vegfa levels with a concomitant increase in VEGFA protein (Fig. and).