shRNA knock-down of EMX2 expression promotes chemo-resistance in lung SCC cells.

<p>(a) Western blots of EMX2 expression in lung SCC cell lines H1703 and H2170 stably transfected with different EMX2 shRNA constructs. Actin served as a loading control. (b) Cell survival (%) of stably transfected H1703 and H2170 cells after treatments with chemo drugs: cisplatin at 12.5 μM and 25 μM, carboplatin at 12.5 μM and 25 μM, and docetaxel at 1.0 μM and 2.0 μM, respectively. Cell survival was determined by MTS assays and measurements were normalized to that of H1703 or H1270 cells stably transfected with a non-silencing shRNA construct and treated with DMSO, which was set as 100%. Two-sided student’s <i>t</i>-test was performed between control shRNA and EMX2 shRNA expressing cell lines. A <i>p</i> value of 0.05 or less was indicated as *, 0.01 or less as **, and 0.001 or less as ***.