Fig. 3

RASAL2 silencing exhibits inhibitory effect in CRC. a RASAL2 endogenous expression in CRC cell lines by western blot. β-actin was used as a loading control. b siControl or siRASAL2 was transfected into DLD-1, HCT 116 and SW620 and Caco2 cells. The downregulated RASAL2 was confirmed by western blot. c siRASAL2 significantly reduced the cell proliferation and anchorage-dependent growth with MTT assays and colony formation assays in KRAS/NRAS wild-type and mutant CRC cells. d Reduced anchorage-independent growth in RASAL2 knockdown cells using soft agar assays. e Flow cytometry analysis on cell cycle in RASAL2 knockdown cells. Representative figure (Left) and percentage of cells in each of the G1, S and G2 phases (Right). f Knockdown of RASAL2 by two different siRNAs suppressed cell invasion and migration in DLD-1 and HCT 116 cell lines by cell invasion and migration assays. g Tumors isolated from nude mice at the end of investigation (Upper: siControl; Lower: siRASAL2); Tumor growth was summarized using a line chart, while mean tumor weights in the siControl and siRASAL2 groups were shown in the histogram. (*, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01, Student’s t-test, n = 3 independent experiments)