Figure 8.

si-hVDAC1 Treatment of MDA-MB-231 Cells Markedly Reduced Expression of CSC Markers and Enhanced Expression of Proteins Associated with Differentiation after the Third and Fourth Transfections

(A and B) Immunoblot (A) and quantitative analyses (B) of selected CSC markers (CD133, ALDH1, SOX2, and KLF4) in si-NT- and si-hVDAC1-treated MDA-MB-231 cells following the indicated transfection, using specific antibodies. β-Actin served as an internal loading control. The dashed line indicates the level in the controls. (C and D) IF staining of si-NT- and si-hVDAC1-treated cells following the fourth transfection stained for CD44 and CD24 (C) and, after the third transfection for Her2 (D), as visualized by confocal microscopy (Olympus IX81). (E) Real-time qPCR analysis of mRNA levels for progesterone receptor (PR; black bar), prolactin (PRL, gray bar), and estrogen receptor (ESR1, white bar) in si-hVDAC1-treated MDA-MB-231 cells, relative to those in si-NT-treated cells, following the indicated transfection. Results reflect the mean ± SEM; *p ≤ 0.05; **p ≤ 0.01; ***p ≤ 0.001.