Fig. 2.

Effects of TACC2 siRNA transfection on CSE-induced cytotoxicity and TACC2 mRNA levels. a Forty-eight hours after transfection with either siRNA targeting TACC2 (TACC2 siRNA) or the scrambled siRNA (scrambled control) as control, HBEC2 cells were incubated in the absence (no CSE) or presence of 2 % CSE (CSE) for 24 h. Cell viability was determined using the MTT assay at 24 h. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM for three independent experiments with triplicated samples (*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01). b Steady-state levels of TACC2 mRNA were measured by RT-PCR and presented as relative fold difference compared with CDKN1B in HBEC2 cells after 48 h with either TACC2 siRNA or scrambled control. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM from two independent experiments with triplicated samples (**p < 0.01). c HBEC2 cells were treated as in a. Cell death was analyzed by Annexin V and propidium iodide (PI) staining 24 h after 2 % CSE exposure. The percentage of Annexin V positive cells/total cell number was expressed as percentage apoptosis. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM for three independent experiments (**p < 0.01). Representative flow cytometry data are shown. d HBEC2 cells were treated as in a. Immunoblot analysis of active caspase-3 was performed 24 h after 2 % CSE exposure. Immunoblotting data are representative of three experiments