Effect of MEL-18 knockdown on estrogen-sensitive MCF7 breast cancer cells

Gene expression analysis of MEL-18-silenced MCF7 cell lines. MEL-18 is a component of the polycomb repressive complex (PRC)-1, which is a critical epigenetic modulator of stem cell regulation and normal and cancerous development. Accumulating studies have suggested that MEL-18 might act as a tumor suppressor in several human tumors, including breast cancer. Results provide insight into the functional role of MEL-18 in estrogen-dependent breast cancer. MCF7 cells stably infected with lentiviruses encoding either control (shCon) or MEL-18 shRNA (shMEL) were cultured in phenol-red free DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS for 48 h. Total RNA was isolated from the cultures using Trizol reagent. For each of the 2 conditions, 2 biological replicates were included. In total, 4 microarray samples were analyzed; 2 controls and 2 shRNA MEL-18 knockdowns. All labeling, hybridization and scanning steps were performed according to the manufacturers’ instructions.