Fig. 5

Knockdown of USP7 reduces ICN1 protein levels and suppresses T-ALL cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. a, b Knockdown of USP7 reduces ICN1 protein levels. JURKAT (a) and MOLT-4 cells (b) were infected with control shRNA or two different shRNAs against USP7. The protein expression levels of USP7 and ICN1 were detected using western blotting (left panel), and the mRNA levels were determined by qRT-PCR (right panel). The data are presented as the mean ± S.D. (Student’s t-test) of three independent experiments; NS denotes no significant. c JURKAT cells transfected with control shRNA or USP7 shRNAs were treated with CHX (50 μg/mL) and harvested at the indicated time points, followed by western blotting analysis. d JURKAT and MOLT-4 cells were infected with control shRNA or USP7 shRNAs, and cell proliferation was monitored by a CCK-8 assay. The data are presented as the mean ± S.D. (Student’s t-test) of three independent experiments; ^*p < 0.05, ^**p < 0.01, and ^***p < 0.001. e JURKAT cells stably expressing the control shRNA or USP7 shRNAs were intravenously injected into NSG mice (n = 3 per group). After 3 weeks, the mice were killed, and their T-ALL progression was analyzed. Representative spleen images are shown. f Representative spleen H&E staining is presented (top, 200×; bottom, 1000×). g Wright’s staining of peripheral blood (top panel) and bone marrow (bottom panel) cytospin samples from the control mice and USP7-depleted mice