Figure 2

Detection of an increased apoptosis in maspin expressing tumor cells in cell culture under the induction of STS and TNF-alpha. A. TC, T16, and T18 cells in monolayer culture were treated with staurosporine (1 μM) for 4 hrs, and apoptosis rate was detected using the TUNEL assay. Note the increased apoptosis in T16 and T18 cells. B, C, Maspin-mediated apoptosis was blocked by caspase 9 and caspase 8 inhibitors. B. TC and T18 cells were treated with staurosporine (1 μM, 4 hrs), caspase-8 inhibitor II (Z-IETD-FMK) and caspase-9 inhibitor II (LEHD-CHO) were used at a concentration of 20 nM. C. TC and T18 cells were treated with TNF-alpha (100 ng/ml, 7 hrs), caspase-8 inhibitor II (Z-IETD-FMK) and caspase-9 inhibitor II (LEHD-CHO) were used at a concentration of 20 nM. Apoptotic cells were assayed by TUNEL and counted in four randomly selected fields under 20 X objective. Bars were from four repeated experiments.