PTEN and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: It was further confirmed by dual luciferase reporter gene assay that the luciferase activity was significantly decreased in ESCC cells co-transfected with PTEN-wt vector and miR-301 mimic compared with those co-transfected with PTEN-mut vector and miR-301 mimic, implying that miR-301 could particularly bind to PTEN (Fig. 2b, c).