Fig. 4

LINC00909 promotes the pancreatic CSC phenotype and upregulates the expression of pluripotency factors. (A) Sphere-formation assay in PANC-1 cells transfected with empty vector (EV) or vector encoding LINC00909. (B, C) Sphere-formation assay in PANC-1 and AsPC-1 cells transfected with siNC, siLINC00909-3, or siLINC00909-6. (D, F) CD133 + and ALDH1 + expression in PDAC cells was measured by flow cytometry. (G–I) RT-qPCR analysis was conducted to detect the mRNA levels of CD133, OCT4, SOX2, NANOG, KLF4, and c-Myc in LINC00909-overexpressing cells (G) and LINC00909-knockdown cells (H, I). (J–L) Western blotting analysis was conducted to detect the protein expression of CD133, OCT4, SOX2, NANOG, KLF4, and c-Myc in PDAC cells. (M) CCK-8 assays were conducted to detect the cell viability of PANC-1 cells transfected with EV or vector encoding LINC00909 under treatment with different concentrations of gemcitabine. (N, O) CCK-8 assays were conducted to detect the cell viability of PANC-1 or AsPC-1 cells transfected with siNC, siLINC00909-3, or siLINC00909-6 under treatment with different concentrations of gemcitabine. All *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; ****P < 0.0001. P-values were assessed using ANOVA and two-tailed t-tests, followed by Dunnett’s tests for multiple comparisons in (A–I) and (M–O).