Merlin knockdown promotes proliferation and invasiveness of M19-MEL human melanoma cells.

<p><b>A</b>, Top Panel, q-real-time RT-PCR was performed to assess merlin mRNA levels in M19-MEL cells transduced with non-targeting (NT) or merlin shRNA (#2 and #4). Bottom Panel, Western blot analysis of merlin protein levels in M19-MEL cells transduced with non targeting shRNA (NT) or shRNA targeting NF2 (sh#2 and sh#4), actin was used as a loading control. 50 µg of protein were loaded in each lane. <b>B</b>, Proliferation assay of the transduced M19-MEL cells. *denotes a <i>p</i>-value <0.05. <b>C</b>, Matrigel invasion assay of the transduced M19-MEL cells: Bars represent the mean invaded cells in 30 randomly selected 200X microscopic fields. *denotes a <i>p</i>-value <0.01.