Figure 1

The effects of siRNA-mediated MYC knockdown on cell proliferation in a panel of 26 human breast cancer cell lines. Cells were transfected with either pooled MYC siRNA (siMYC) or Non-targeting siRNA control at the indicated concentrations and BrdU incorporation measured after 72 hours. Data are expressed as the percentage of BrdU incorporation in the cells transfected with MYC siRNA relative to the cells transfected with control siRNA. Based on their sensitivity to MYC depletion at 10 nM siRNA, breast cancer cells were classified into MYC-highly dependent (blue colour: Hs578T, HCC1954, MDA-MB-134, AU565 and SKBR3), dependent (red colour: HCC1143, BT549, BT474, MDA-MB-436. MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-453, HCC70, T47D, MDA-MB-361, MCF-7, HBL100, ZR751, MDA-MB-468, BT483, HCC1937, HCC38 and HCC1569) and MYC-independent cells (green colour: MDA-MB-175, MDA-MB-157, BT20 and HCC1500) with inhibition of proliferation by more than 75%, 25-75% and less than 25%, respectively. Data are mean ± SEM analysed in triplicate experiments.