Hbz supports SLB-1 cell proliferation in culture. (A) 10³ SLB-1 or stable SLB-1 lentiviral-infected cells (V1-V5) were plated in normal growth medium in 96-well plates and MTS assays were performed on triplicate wells at 24-hour intervals for a total of 5 days. The average absorbance numbers are plotted and error bars denote SD. * denotes the significant difference in proliferation in Hbz-specific shRNA-transduced cells compared with controls. (B) The same cell lines as in panel A were subjected to trypan blue exclusion to assess cell viability. A total of 5 wells per cell line were enumerated per day and presented as average percent of viable cells with error bars denoting SD. (C) Western blot analysis was performed on total cell lysates as indicated. HBZ and Tax levels were quantified and normalized to β-actin control by densitometry. Statistical significance was determined by ANOVA followed by Tukey test.