Fig. 2

Knockdown of YAP inhibits pancreatic cancer cell proliferation. a Western blot showing expression of YAP protein in PDAC cell lines. b Immunofluorescence indicating that YAP (red) was expressed in both the cytoplasm and nucleus but was mainly located in the nucleus. Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue) (bar, 50 μm). After transfection of Panc-1 and BxPC-3 cells with YAP-shRNA and Negative control lentiviral vectors, c The expression level of YAP protein was determined by western blot, which showed that the YAP protein level was significantly reduced. d the YAP mRNA expression level was determined using real-time PCR and normalized to that of β-actin, and YAP mRNA expression was clearly suppressed by YAP-shRNA. e & f BxPC-3 and Panc-1 cells were transfected with YAP-shRNA lentiviral vectors and Negative control lentiviral vectors. At the indicated time points (24, 48 and 72 h), cell viability was assessed using MTT assays. g & h The effects of YAP-shRNA on the colony forming ability of Panc-1 and BxPC-3 cells. All of the data are presented as the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. Column: mean; bar: SD; *P < 0.05