Figure 4

Induction of apoptosis in WI-38 fibroblasts by ASO-specific inhibition of DNp73. (A) Cells cultured in medium containing 1.5 μM doxorubicin (DOX) were stained with Hoechst 33342 at 48 hours after cotransfection. Apoptotic cells show the typical features of membrane blebbing, cell shrinkage, and nuclear condensation (upper panel). The amount of viable cells cotransfected with ΔEx2/3p73α or ΔNp73α in the absence and presence of specific ASO was counted at indicated time points after trypan blue exclusion. Black bars correspond to 50 μm. (B) Detection of caspase-3 activity of cells treated as in A. Bar graphs show the mean ± S.D. of three independent experiments. Asterisks denote statistical significant p-values: * (p < 0.05); ** (p < 0.005).