Figure 5.

Effect of FBXW7 knockdown in glioma cells. Normal mitosis figures in control siRNA transfected cells (A) and examples of abnormal mitosis in U87 cells transfected with siRNA against FBXW7 (B). Chromosomes are stained with DAPI (blue) and spindle poles with anti-Aurora-A antibody (red), bar = 10 μm. Quantification of abnormal mitosis detected as in B, 48 h after transfection with siRNA against FBXW7. More than 3400 cells were analyzed for each condition. Aurora-A positive cells as in A and B were classified as mitotic and accounted for around 4% of total cells in controls. FBXW7 siRNA-transfected cells showed significantly less mitotic figures (72.2% of controls, P = 0.0094), fewer normal metaphases (27.5% of controls, P = 0.022), but much more abnormal mitoses (7.3 fold compared to controls, P = 0.0042; unpaired t-test, two-tailed).