Fig. 1.

siRNA-mediated silencing or inhibition of WEE1 inhibits breast cancer cells. a Breast cancer cell lines MB231, BT20, and HCC1937 and the non-transformed breast cell line MCF10A were transfected with either a WEE1 or non-targeting (NEG) pool of siRNAs. Cell viability was measured by MTS assay 5 days post-transfection and is plotted as percent change from the NEG pool. The degree of WEE1 silencing was assessed by immunoblotting shown below the graphs. Tubulin protein levels were measured as a loading control. b MB231 cells were transfected with NEG pool, a pool of four WEE1 siRNAs or each individual WEE1 siRNA used within the pool (siWEE1 numbers 5, 6, 7, and 8). Cell viability is plotted as a change from the NEG pool control 72 h post-transfection. Immuno-blots of WEE1, phosphorylated CDC2 (pY15CDC2), total CDC2 and the loading control tubulin are shown. c Cells were incubated with 10 μM WEE1 inhibitor (+) or DMSO (−). Cell viability was assessed by MTS assay 3 days post-treatment, and results are plotted as a percent change relative to the DMSO control. WEE1 inhibition was assessed by phosphorylation of CDC2 (Tyr15). a–c All MTS values represent the mean of three experiments ± SE