GDNF protein expression in U87 MG and U251 MG cells. Western blot analysis of the relative GDNF protein expression in (A) U87 MG and (B) U251 MG cells. Western blots were quantified in greyscale and relative protein expression was presented relative to the control group. A combination of shRNA-GDNFOS1-49 + shRNA-GDNFOS1-248 was used for interference in U87 cells. ShRNA-GDNFOS1-248 exhibited the highest interference ability in U251 cells and was therefore used subsequently. Experiments were performed in triplicate. Data are presented as the mean ± standard deviation of three measurements per group. *P<0.05, **P<0.01 and ***P<0.001 vs. the control group. The numbers 1–3 in the western blot analysis correspond to sample numbers. C, control; O, overexpression; I, interference. GDNF, glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor; shRNA, short hairpin RNA.