Fig. 1.

BCR-ABL silencing increases CCN3 expression. siRNA directed to target BCR-ABL was used to investigate CCN3 expression levels. K562 cells transfected with siRNA targeting BCR-ABL, a scrambled sequence and untransfected control cells were compared at 24 h and 72 h post transfection. a Real time PCR was performed to quantify BCR-ABL transcript levels. A significant reduction in BCR-ABL was observed within 24 h of siRNA treatment. b RQ-PCR was performed to detect levels of CCN3 expression as a result of siRNA targeting BCR-ABL. BCR-ABL reduction corresponded with an increase in CCN3. cBox plots indicating the difference in CCN3 gene expression in each set of samples. Data represent normalized Ct values; higher the Ct value, lower the gene expression. d Western blotting was performed on protein lysates to detect expression of Bcr-Abl (i), Ccn3 (ii) and β-actin. e Optical densitometry was performed for the blots in (c) and the data was graphically formatted to compare levels of Bcr-Abl and Ccn3 protein expression normalized to β-actin. Data represent the mean of three independent experiments. *, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01; ***, p < 0.001