Figure 5
The caspase-3 inhibitor prevents loss of Mcl-1 in HBx-expressing cells upon H 2 O 2 exposure. (A and B) Cells were treated with or without indicated amount of AC-DEVD-CHO for 5 hr followed by exposed to H2O2 (400 μM) for additional 15 hr. Expression of PARP, caspase-3, Mcl-1, Bcl-xL, HBx and GAPDH was determined by Western Blot assay. "ns", nonspecific bands. (C) Cells were infected with indicated adenoviruses (M.O.I. = 5) for 36 hr or treated with DMSO or AC-DEVD-CHO (80 μM) for 5 hr followed by exposed to H2O2 (400 μM) for additional 15 hr. The extent of apoptosis was evaluated by FACS analysis. Representative results are shown. Plots (lower panel) are mean ± SD of data from three independent experiments. *, p < 0.05. "AC", AC-DEVD-CHO. (D) Cells were treated with DMSO or AC-DEVD-CHO (80 μM) for 5 hr followed by exposed to H2O2 (400 μM) for additional 12 hr. Expression of Mcl-1 was determined by Western Blot assay. A band at about 28 kDa indicates the cleaved form of Mcl-1.