RFC3 and breast carcinoma: To investigate the expression, proliferation and apoptosis of mRNA and protein in MCF-7 cells after upregulation of RFC3 levels in ER-positive breast cancer cells, we used qPCR and western blot assays to show that mRNA and protein expression levels were increased in RFC3-overexpressing MCF-7 cells after transfection of RFC3 overexpression plasmids compared to controls (Figure 7A, 7B, ***P < 0.001).