Figure 3.

miR-150-NF delivers miR-150 mimics to pancreatic cancer cells efficiently.

Notes: Pancreatic cancer cells were seeded in six-well plates to reach 60%–70% confluence. Cells were treated with 0.1 mg of miR-150 mimics (with or without Lipofectamine [Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA]), miR-150-NF (0.05 mg [0.245 μg miR-150], 0.1 mg [0.69 μg miR-150], and 0.2 mg [1.38 μg miR-150]), blank (unloaded, 0.1 mg) PLGA nanoparticles. After 16 hours of transfection, medium was replaced with complete media and cells were further cultured for 48 hours. Expression of mature miR-150 was examined in cells by quantitative reverse-transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Comparable expression of miR-150 was observed after treatment of cells with 0.05 mg of miR-loaded NPs and miR-150 mimic (0.708 μg miR-150) with Lipofectamine, whereas significantly higher expression was observed in cells after treatment with miR-150-NF at concentrations of 0.1 mg and 0.2 mg. Results are presented as fold increase in miR-150 expression in various treatments in comparison to miRNA-150 alone. Bars represent mean ± standard deviation, n=3; *P<0.05; **P<0.001; ***P<0.0001.

Abbreviations: miR, microRNA; NF, nanoformulation; NPs, nanoparticles.