Fig. 2

Liver CD133+ CSCs possess high intrinsic NHEJ capacity. a Statistical comparison of drug sensitivity in CD133+ and CD133− liver cancer cells measured by cell viability assays. b Expression levels of the NHEJ genes Ku, DNA-PK, and XLF in CD133+ and CD133− HCC cells determined by qRT-PCR. Expression levels were normalized to the reference gene 18S rRNA. The data are reported as the mean ± SD obtained from 2 experiments with duplicates. c Huh7 cells were transfected with pEGFP-PEM1-Ad2 plasmid, followed by cisplatin, oxaliplatin, or doxorubicin treatment. GPF+ gating was based on CD133-PE-positive (upper part) and CD133-PE-negative (lower part) populations. Live-cell NHEJ activity is presented as the percentage of GFP+ cells within CD133+ and CD133− cell populations and was normalized to the transfection efficiency. d Statistical comparison of drug-induced NHEJ activity in vivo of c between CD133+ and CD133− cells from 2 independent experiments