Figure 3: BCLAF1-L knockdown inhibits xenograft growth of RKO cells.

(a) Top significant biological processes for genes differentially expressed in BCLAF1-L-depleted RKO cells. Cell adhesion and cytoskeleton organization are the most affected biofunction affected by BCLAF1-L knockdown. (b) Validation of microarray results by real-time PCR on eight genes predicted from the microarray analysis was performed. The experiments were repeated at least three times, and results are shown as mean±s.d. (c) Time-course of xenograft growth. Stable RKO/sh-BCLAF1-L1, RKO/sh-BCLAF1-L2 and RKO/sh-Luci cells described in Fig. 2b were injected into nude mice, and tumour volumes were measured every half of week. Each point represents the mean volume±s.d. of tumours. (d) Tumour weight. Mice described in c were killed at 7.5 weeks after injection. Tumours were excised from the mice and weighted. Results are shown as mean±s.d. of tumour weights (n=9, 8, 9 per group, respectively, each with initial 12 injections). (e) Tumours shown in d were formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded and sliced for Ki-67 staining. Ki-67 (green signal) stains the nucleus region of proliferating cells and propidium iodide (PI, red signal) stains for nuclei of all cells; hence, the merged yellow signal indicates proliferating cells.