Figure 5.
The inhibition of P16INK4A protein expression increased SOX2, ALDH1A1 expression, and self-renewal ability in cervical cancer cells. (A) Expression of stem cell markers (CD133, SOX2, and ALDH1A1) at the protein level in the HeLa-control and HeLa-shP16 cells were detected by Western blot and relative protein expression to beta-actin protein was shown. (B) Colony formation assay of HeLa-control and HeLa-shP16 cells were used to evaluate the ability of self-renew. (C) The sphere formation assay was used to measure the anchorage-independent growth of HeLa-control and HeLa-shP16 cells in ultra-low attachment plates. Each bar represents the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. Student’s t-test was used for continuous variables between the two groups. * p < 0.05. Data are presented as the mean ± SD of three independent experiments.