MTT assay
The MTT test was employed to ascertain cell viability. Post-transfection, 96-well plates were used to culture the cells with each well containing 1.0x104 cells and subsequently incubated at 37˚C for time intervals of 24h, 48h, and 72h. Next, a 0.5 mg/ml MTT solution (Sigma; Merch KGaA) was introduced into the cells and left to culture for 4 hrs, immediately after which co-culturing with 100µl DMSO was performed at 37˚C for 10 min. The optical density was subsequently calculated from the absorbance measurements taken at 490 nm.