Cells were plated at 5,000 cells in 96 well plates and cultured until confluence for 72–96 hr. Total RNA was isolated and reverse transcribed using the TaqMan® Gene expression Cells-to-CT™ kit (Applied Biosystems, Mulgrave, Victoria, Australia), as per the manufacturer's instructions. Briefly, lysis solution with DNAse was added to each well and incubated for 5 min at room temperature. Stop solution was then added to each well and mixed. The lysate (10 μl) was added to a 40 μl reverse transcription master mix and reverse transcribed for 1 hr. Resultant cDNA was stored as 50 μl aliquots at −20°C for qRT-PCR analysis. qRT-PCR reactions were performed on triplicate samples using TaqMan® primer sets for KRT5 (Hs00361185_m1), KRT6C (Hs00752476_s1) using the Quantstudio 12K Flex Real Time PCR System (Applied Biosystems). Briefly, PCR reactions were made up to 10 μl and contained TaqMan® Gene Expression Master Mix (2×), primers for the gene of interest, nuclease free water, and the sample cDNA. PCR cycling conditions were as follows: 50°C for 2 min, 95°C for 10 min (with 40 cycles following of 95°C for 15 sec), and 60°C for 1 min. CT values were normalised to the house keeping gene β-actin (Human ACTB 4333762, Applied Biosystems) and calibrator using the 2−ΔΔCT method.