Gene expression signature regulated by cell density and Merlin/NF2 knockdown in HMLE cells

Merlin has been implicated in contact-dependent inhibition of proliferation To define genes regulated by Merlin and study their relationship to cell density-dependent gene expression, microarray experiments were performed after Merlin depletion in HMLE cells at both high and low cell densities. HMLE are non-transformed immortalized human mammary epithelial cells (Elenbaas et al., Genes Dev 15, 2001) HMLE cells were transfected with NF2 or scramble (control) siRNAs. 2 days later medium was changed (dense) or cells seeded in sparse conditions and RNA isolated the day after (3 days after siRNA transfection)