Figure 3. Bioengineered miR-34a prodrug enhanced the apoptosis of osteosarcoma 143B cells.

(A) Comparison of flow cytometry histograms of Annexin V/propidium iodide stained cells, following the treatments with tRNA/mir-34a, control tRNA/MSA and vehicle. (B) Comparison of the percent of apoptotic cells with different treatments. (C) Confocal immunofluorescent analyses of Caspase-3 biomarker in 143B cells. (D) The number of Caspase-3-positive cells were compared for different treatments. Cells were treated with 4 nM tRNA/mir-34a, tRNA/MSA or the vehicle for 72 h, and apoptosis was assessed by Annexin V/propidium iodide flow cytometric analysis. A separate batch of treated cells were fixed with 10% formalin, stained with Caspase-3 antibody, and counterstained with DAPI. Caspase-3 fluorescence and DAPI-stained nuclei images were acquired with a confocal microscope. Values are mean ± SD of triplicate treatments. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, and ***P < 0.001 (two- or one-way ANOVA).