Figure 2.

Silencing USP39 expression in ESCC cells inhibits proliferation. (A, B) USP39 levels were measured in the ESCC cell lines ECA109 and KYSE30 by qRT-PCR (A) and Western blotting (B) after stable knockdown with negative control shRNA or two different shRNAs targeting USP39, sh-USP39-1 and sh-USP39-2. (C–E) Proliferation of the cells from (A) was measured from 0-96 h using CCK-8 assays (C) or colony formation assays (D, E). (F–I) Proliferation in vector control or USP39 overexpressing cells (F) was measured by CCK-8 assays (G) or colony formation assays (H–I). The results are shown as mean ± S.D. of three independent experiments. Student’s t-test: *p < 0.05, ^** p < 0.01, ^*** p < 0.001.