Figure 4.

CD44 promotes hyaluronan production and adhesiveness of U251MG cells. (a) HAS2-AS1, HAS2, TMEM2, and VCAN mRNAs were determined by real-time qPCR analysis after normalization to TBP. (b) The hyaluronan levels in conditioned medium were measured and normalized to total RNA extracted from cells cultured in the indicated conditions. (c) An equal number of suspended parental or CD44 KO U251MG cells (Clone #3) was subjected to adhesion assay to uncoated plates or plates coated with hyaluronan (HA), fibronectin (FN), or collagen type I (COL I); after 30 min, adherent cells were stained with crystal violet. Results are depicted as arbitrary absorbance units. All graphs show the average ± SEM values of at least three independent experiments. Asterisks show significant differences compared to the respective control condition: * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.