Total RNA was isolated using a TRIzol isolation kit. Whole cDNA was synthesized from 1 µg of purified RNA by the SuperScript II First-Strand cDNA synthesis system (Invitrogen). Primer sequences for p62 qRT-PCR were described previously by Hu et al. (2012) (link). The qRT-PCR was performed with SYBR green brilliant III ultrafast reagent kit (MX3000P; Agilent Technologies) following the manufacturer’s protocol. The results of qRT-PCR assays presented are a mean of three independent RNA preparations. Each sample was analyzed in triplicates.