Knockdown of the transcription factor PAX6 by short hairpin RNA in the adenocarcinoma cell line HPAFII reveal changes in gene expression of several cancer relevant genes

PAX6 is an evolutionary conserved transcription factor important for normal development of the CNS, eye and pancreas. Its role in cancer is however poorly understood as both tumor suppressive- and oncogenic properties have been reported. We generated a pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell line (HPAFII) were PAX6 was knocked down by the use of short hairpin RNA. To generate a control cell line scrambled short hairpin RNA was used. Successful knock down of PAX6 was confirmed by RT-qPCR and Western blot. RNA were harvested from shPAX6, shControl and untransfected HPAFII cells, and used in gene expression microarray to look for differences in gene expression when PAX6 was knocked down.