Fig. 7.

In vivo antitumor effect of miRNA–siRNA combination. a Trial design for testing miRNA–siRNA combination efficacy in the orthotopic PDAC model. b Tumor growth curves from biweekly fluorescent measurements of tumor-bearing mice treated with APA complexed with miR-34a/PLK1-siRNA, miR-34a/NC-siRNA, PLK1-siRNA/NC-miR, NC-miR/NC-siRNA or PBS (treatments are marked with arrows). (n = 6, 7). Data represent mean ± SEM. One way ANOVA. c In vivo toxicity via mouse body weight evaluation. Data represent mean ± SEM. d An image of a representative mouse from each treatment group 33 days post tumor inoculation showing the difference in tumor fluorescent signal. e Kaplan–Meier survival graph. Log-Rank test, P < 0.05 for the combination miR-34a/PLK1-siRNA compared to all other treatment groups. f Effect of miR-34a-PLK1-siRNA combined treatment on proliferation, apoptosis and angiogenesis in MiaPaCa2 orthotopic xenograft tumors. Representative images of H&E, Ki67, cleaved caspase 3 and CD31 immunostaining of tumors from the different treatments, following 45 days from tumor inoculation, are shown (8–10 fields per slide). Scale bars, 200 µm. g Quantification of immunostaining that were shown in f. MVD, microvessel density. Data represent mean ± SD. (Student’s t-test, *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001)