Total RNA was extracted from tissue samples and cell lines using the TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.,) according to the manufacturer's instructions. For mRNA reverse transcription, cDNA was synthesized using the ReverTra AceH qPCR RT kit (Toyobo, Osaka, Japan) with 1 mg total RNA. RT-qPCR was performed via SYBR Green assay (Invitrogen; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.) using the SYBRH Select Master Mix for CFX (Invitrogen; Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.) as described (21 (link)). GAPDH was used as the control. The reverse transcription primers and qPCR primers of COUP-TFII and GAPDH were purchased from Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc. COUP-TFII relative expression was evaluated by using the 2−ΔΔCq method (22 (link)). All PCR assays were performed in triplicate.