To assess the effects of reduced merlin expression on this early stage melanoma, we screened a set of shRNAs against human merlin (Open Biosystems) and found that shRNAs #6 and #11 (sh#6 and sh#11), but not a non-targeting shRNA control (sh NT), effectively knocked down merlin expression in WM1552C cells at both the mRNA and protein level (Figure 1B). The gene discussed is NF2; the disease is melanoma.