Fig. 4

piRNA-823 controls cancer stemness by activating DNMT3B a RPMI8226 and NCI-H929 cells were cultured with or without MDSCs, then DNMTs mRNA levels in MM cell lines were detected by qRT-PCR. Results are presented as the mean values relative to controls ± SD; * P < 0.05. b DNMTs protein levels in RPMI8226 and NCI-H929 cells were detected by western blotting. c Effects of piRNA-823 silencing on DNMT3B protein levels in RPMI8226 and NCI-H929 cells. d Effects of piRNA-823 silencing on DNMT3B mRNA levels in MM cell lines co-cultured with G-MDSCs. * P < 0.05 compared to the control. e Effects of piRNA-823 silencing and nanaomycin A treatment on the global DNA methylation level in MM cell lines co-cultured with G-MDSCs. * P < 0.05 compared to the control. f DNMT3B mRNA levels in SP and NSP cells were quantified using qRT-PCR. SP and NSP cells were sorted from RPMI8226 and NCI-H929 cells. * P < 0.05. g, h Effects of nanaomycin A treatment on SP percentages and sphere formation in RPMI8226 and NCI-H929 cells. * P < 0.05. i Effects of nanaomycin A treatment on CSCs core gene transcripts expression in RPMI8226 and NCI-H929 cells. * P < 0.05