Figure 4

NF-κB inhibitor BAY11-7082 decreased TNF-α protection against serum starvation-mediated apoptosis. Serum-deprived Hep3B and SMMC-7721 cells were cultured with TNF-α (10 ng/ml) and/or BAY11-7082 (10 μM). (A and B) Cells were harvested at 24 h, FITC/PI staining was performed to detect the apoptosis. Data are presented as the mean ± SEM from three independent experiments. **P < 0.01; Student’s t-test. (C and D) Expression of caspase-8 and cleaved caspase-3 were determined by Western blotting.