Figure 3

Effect of hTERT-siRNA combined with doxorubicin on apoptosis and senescence of breast cancer cell lines. (A) Apoptosis of breast cancer cells induced by hTERT-siRNA and doxorubicin. MCF-7 and MDA-MB-453 cells were untreated (blank control), transfected with control or hTERT siRNA, and then treated with 0.5 μM doxorubicin. After 48 h of incubation, apoptotic cells were detected by FACS. Percentages of apoptotic cells are shown as mean of 3 experiments ± SD (error bar); *, p < 0.01; ***, p < 0.0001, two-tailed student's t-test. (B) Senescence of breast cancer cells induced by hTERT-siRNA and doxorubicin. MCF-7 and MDA-MB-453 cells were untreated (blank control), transfected with control or hTERT siRNA, and then treated with 0.5 μM doxorubicin. After 48 h of incubation, cells were stained for β-galactosidase activity. The percentage of β-galactosidase-positive cells was calculated by counting 3 representative fields of at least 100 cells in each group, shown as the mean ± SD (error bar); *, p < 0.01; **, p < 0.005; ***, p < 0.0001; ‡, p < 0.01 between cell types; ‡‡, p < 0.001 between cell types.