Figure 3

Test compounds induce the intrinsic apoptosis pathway. HeLa (A) or TERT (C) cells were treated in the absence or presence of test compounds (50 uM) for 5 hours (HeLa) or 16 hours (TERT). Cell lysates were immunoblotted for total and cleaved PARP (arrowhead). Graph on the right shows densitometry quantification of cleaved PARP to α-tubulin ratios and annexinV/PI staining relative control. PARP data represents the mean ± SEM from four independent experiments; annexinV/PI data are representative of two independent experiments. (B) HeLa cells were treated with 50 uM of the indicated compound for 5 hours and assayed for cleaved PARP in the presence and absence of the general caspase inhibitor ZVAD-FMK. (D) HeLa cells were treated in the absence or presence of 50 uM of the indicated compound for 5 hours and assayed for caspase 8 or 9 activity. Data represent the mean ± SEM from 3 independent experiments. * and # indicates statistical significance compared to untreated controls, p ≤ 0.05 and p ≤ 0.01, respectively. C, Control; E, Etoposide