Fig. 2

Down-regulation of stathmin expression inhibited the progress of OSCC in vitro. The mRNA of stathmin was detected after transfection with siRNA (#1, #2) against stathmin for 24 h in HN4 and HN13 (a). Cellular growth was inhibited after transfection with siRNA-stathmin in the HN4 and HN13 cells using a CCK-8 kit (b), colony formation was also inhibited compared to the scramble siRNA (c). The proportion of apoptotic cells increased markedly (lower and upper right fraction) in the HN4 and HN13 cells transfected with siRNA-stathmin for 48 h compared to the control using the PI and Annexin V staining (d). Morphological alterations of microtubules were stained by α-tubulin (green) and nuclei were stained by DAPI (blue) in HN13 cells transfected with siRNA-stathmin and pcDNA-stathmin plasmids (e). The downstream signaling molecules were detected by western blot after siRNA transfection for 48 h (f). **: P < 0.01, *: P < 0.05