Aberrant expression of DANCR leads to the defects during erythroid differentiation. (A) The detection of CD235a⁺ cells in differentiated CD34⁺ cells on day 11 by flow cytometry in green fluorescent protein-positive cells with DANCR-KD. The percentage on the right in each figure represents the proportion of CD235a⁺ cells. (B) Colony-forming capacity analysis of DANCR knockdown in CD34⁺ cells. (C) Knockdown of DANCR in CD34⁺ cells inhibits the accumulation of β-hemoglobin (HBB) and γ-hemoglobin (HBG) proteins and erythroid-specific gene ALAS2 on Day 12. (D) Morphology in differentiated CD34⁺ cells with DANCR knockdown and control on Day 11 (original magnification ×100; Wright-Giemsa stain) shows vector control (left) and DANCR-KD (right). The size of more differentiated CD34⁺ cells with DANCR knockdown was larger than that of the control, and the degree of chromatin condensation is reduced. (E) Profile of transcription factor RUNX1 around DANCR in TF-1 cells. Statistical results were analyzed by Student t-test and Kruskal-Wallis test. ^*P < .05; ^**P < .01; ^***P < .001. Ctrl, control group; KD, knockdown; OE, overexpression.