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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Jan 22.
Published in final edited form as: Cell Host Microbe. 2009 Jan 22;5(1):84–94. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2008.12.003

Figure 4. Cholesterol-conjugated siRNAs down-modulate nectin-1 expression for a week in vivo without requiring a transfection lipid.

Figure 4

(A and B) Nectin-1 siRNAs (1 mg/kg) complexed with OF administered ivag for two consecutive days down-regulate nectin-1 within a day of the second instillation and down-regulation persists for at least 7 days. (A) shows immunofluorescence microscopy images of sections stained with nectin-1 or isotype control antibody (red) and DAPI (blue), while (B and E) provide quantification of nectin mRNA relative to Gapdh by qRT-PCR (OF only (black), GFP siRNA (dark grey), nectin-1 siRNA (light grey)). Controls were harvested 1 day after the second transfection. (C) Nectin-1 siRNAs (1 mg/kg x 2) administered ivag without a transfection reagent do not knock-down nectin-1 expression, but the same dose of chol-siRNAs do. Vaginal sections were harvested 2 days after the second treatment and stained for nectin-1 and DAPI as above. (D and E) Nectin-1 knock-down by chol-siRNAs is sustained for over a week. Data for (B) and (E) are mean±S.D. *, p<0.05, **, p<0.001. Control animals were given OF only (black) or GFP siRNA (dark grey). Images are magnified x10. Data shown are representative of two experiments.