Fig. 7

Characterization of the role of FERMT2 in trophoblast cell-substrate adhesion and cell invasion. a) MTT assays for HTR8-SVneo cell viability 1–4 days post-transfection with FERMT2 siRNA (siF2) or non-targeting control siRNAs (non-T). HTR8-SVneo cell proliferation was slightly, but significantly reduced on day 3 compared to control cells (*, p < 0.05). Data shown are from four independent experiments and values were normalized to the non-T treatment group. b) Adhesion assays after transfection of HTR8-SVneo cells with siF2 or non-T siRNAs. FERMT2 knockdown significantly reduced cell adhesion compared to control cells (*, p < 0.05). Data shown are from four independent experiments and values were normalized to the non-T treatment group. c) Invasion assays after transfection of HTR8-SVneo cells with siF2 or non-T siRNAs. FERMT2 knockdown significantly reduced trophoblast cell invasion compared to control cells (*, p < 0.05). Data shown are from four independent experiments and values were normalized to the non-T treatment group. d) Immunoblot analysis confirming FERMT2 depletion in HTR8-SVneo cells for 4 days following transfection with siF2. Tubulin (TUBA) expression was used as a loading control. Representative immunoblots are shown. For densitometric analysis, the relative expression of FERMT2 (F2) was calculated by normalizing values for FERMT2-depleted cells to corresponding non-T controls. Any differences in sample loading were equalized using corresponding TUBA densitometric values. The densitometric analysis shown is from four independent experiments. F2 expression was significantly suppressed upon siF2 treatment (t-test, *p < 0.01)