Fig. 7. Proliferation, growth factor responses, apoptosis and basal integrin expression in siRNA-transfected synchronised HaCaT cells at 60 hours post siRNA transfection. (A) Cell-cycle analysis of DNA content in cells pulse labelled with EdU. Percentages of cells in G1 and S phases, and at G2 or M phase are indicated. (B) Control-siRNA- and CASK-siRNA-transfected cells were serum starved and left untreated, or were treated with 10 ng/ml KGF or 10 ng/ml TGF for 24 hours. Proliferation was substantially enhanced in CASK-siRNA-transfected cells treated with KGF or TGF for 24 hours compared with control-siRNA-transfected cells treated with the same growth factors. (C) Percentage of apoptotic cells. Cells were harvested and subjected to staining for apoptosis using an apoptosis detection kit (BD Biosciences). Positive-control cells provided in the kit show a high percentage of apoptosis compared with negligible levels seen in either the control or CASK siRNA transfected cells. (D) Basal integrin expression. Cells were harvested, stained for 6, β1 or β4 integrin and subjected to analysis by flow cytometry.