Effect of YAP and TAZ expression on proliferation and apoptosis of HCT116 cells.

<p>(A) Western blot analysis of cell lines with reduced YAP and TAZ levels after transfection with siRNAs: parental HCT116 cells carrying no siRNA (parental); control siRNA (si-Con); siRNA to YAP (si-YAP); siRNA to TAZ (si-TAZ); and co-transfected with siRNA to YAP and siRNA to TAZ (si-YAP-TAZ). (B) MTT cell growth assays of control cells (parental, si-Con); cells with reduced YAP or TAZ expression (si-YAP, si-TAZ); or cells with reduced YAP and TAZ expression (si-YAP-TAZ). Data are presented as mean ± SD, N = 3, *<i>P</i><0.05. (C) Flow cytometric analyses of cells stained with Annexin-V-FITC and PI: cells carrying no siRNA (parental); control siRNA (si-Con); siRNA to YAP (si-YAP); siRNA to TAZ (si-TAZ); and cells with reduced YAP and TAZ expression (si-YAP-TAZ). These results indicate that YAP expression has a greater effect on cell proliferation and suppression of apoptosis compared to TAZ expression; however, a synergistic role between YAP and TAZ increases their combined individual effects.