Figure 6: The antitumour and gene knockdown effects of GNC–siRNA complex in subcutaneous pancreatic tumours.

Panc-1 cells were injected into the flank of Balb/c nude mice to form subcutaneous tumours. When the tumours reached about 5 mm in diameter, the animals received peritumoral injections of various formulations every 2 days for six injections. (a) Tumour growth curve during the treatments. The black arrows indicated the days of injection. (b) Ex vivo tumour image and (c) tumour weight at the end of experiment. Scale bar, 1 cm. (d) Expression level of NGF mRNA and (e) NGF protein level in subcutaneous tumours. (f) IF staining of neurites in tumour tissues with various siRNA treatments. Neurites were stained with neurofilament antibody (red), the cell nuclei were stained with 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI; blue). Scale bars, 20 μm. (g) Quantification of neurite density in the subcutaneous tumours by counting the neurite area positive to neurofilament antibody per unit area. Mean±s.d. (n=6 per group). Significant difference was from the saline control, *P<0.01, **0.01<P<0.05; Student’s t-test.