Figure 2.

GROα stimulates breast cancer cell proliferation. GROα was silenced using GROα specific siRNA along with scrambled siRNA as control and knockdown was confirmed by (A) qPCR by extracting total RNA and normalizing to 18S expression levels and (B) ELISA by collecting cell supernatants containing secreted GROα and normalizing per µg of the protein. Cell proliferation rates were determined by MTT assay after 72 h of GROα specific siRNA (100 nM) knock down in (C) MDA-MB-231 and HCC1937 cells compared to their control cells treated with scrambled siRNA and after 72-h stimulation with recombinant GROα (1 ng/ml) in (D) MCF7 cells and SKBR3 cells compared to their control cells treated with vehicle (water). Experiments were performed at least twice with triplicates per experimental analysis. Bars correspond to mean ± SD, n=3, *p<0.05, **p<0.01 (paired t-test, sample vs. control).