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. 2022 Aug 8;12(13):5949–5970. doi: 10.7150/thno.72826

Figure 7.

Figure 7

Depletion of USP1 promotes apoptosis, DNA damage, and tumor growth arrest. Mock control, USP1-KO1, and USP1-KO1 cells reconstituted with either USP1 or MAST1 were used to perform the following experiments. (A) Western blot analyses to validate the expression of USP1 and MAST1 using USP1- and MAST1-specific antibodies. GAPDH was used as the loading control. (B) The cells were treated with either vehicle or cisplatin (2 µg/mL) for 24 h and subjected to immunofluorescence analysis to estimate γH2AX foci formation. Green, γH2AX; blue, nucleus stained by DAPI. Scale bar = 100 µm. The right panel depicts the percentage of γH2AX-positive cells. (C) The cells were treated with cisplatin (2 µg/mL) for 24 h, and MEK1 activation and apoptosis-related factors were determined using Western blotting. GAPDH was used as the internal loading control. (D) The cells were treated with either vehicle or cisplatin (2 µg/mL) for 48 h and subjected to flow cytometry to measure the DNA content using PI staining and (E) annexin-V and 7-AAD staining. (F) The cells were treated with a sub-lethal dose of cisplatin (2 µg/mL) for 48 h, and cell viability was assayed using CCK-8 reagent. Data are presented as the mean and standard deviation of three independent experiments (n = 3). (G-I) Vehicle- or cisplatin-treated cells were subjected to a (G) colony formation assay, (H) wound-healing assay, and (I) Transwell cell-invasion assay. Data are presented as the mean and standard deviation of four independent experiments (n = 4). (J) Xenografts were generated by subcutaneously injecting the mentioned cell groups into the right flanks of NSG mice (n = 4/group). Mice were i.p. injected with either saline (vehicle) or cisplatin (2 mg/kg) twice a week beginning 7 days after xenograft implantation, and tumor size was monitored. Tumor volumes were recorded, and tissues were stored for IHC experiments. The right panel shows the tumors excised from the mice after the experiment. (K) Tumor volume was measured every other day and is presented graphically. Data are presented as the mean and standard deviation of four independent experiments (n = 4). Two-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc test was used with the indicated P values. (L) Xenograft tumors were embedded in paraffin and sectioned. IHC analyses were performed with the indicated antibodies. Scale bar = 30 µm.