Figure 4.

Atrasentan Downregulates p-AKT and Upregulates Antioxidants in Mice

Four weeks after treatment of breast tumor–injected mice with vehicle or atrasentan, we found that atrasentan downregulated p-AKT and upregulated antioxidant markers in the heart tissue. (A) Quantification of transcript levels of endothelin(ET)-A/ETB receptor by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. (B) Lysates from heart were immunoblotted with antibodies against (C) ETA receptor/HSP60 and (D) p-AKT/AKT. Quantification of cardiac transcript levels of (E) glutathione peroxidase (Gpx)-1, (F) Gpx-2, (G) heme oxygenase (Ho)-1, and (H) catalase (Cat) by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. (I) Lysates from heart were immunoblotted with antibodies against MnSOD/HSP60 and catalase/HSP60 in the heart tissue of control and breast cancer (BC)-injected mice. Quantification of (J) MnSOD/HSP60 and (K) catalase/HSP60, respectively. Results are shown as mean ± SEM (n = 6-9 per group). +P < 0.05 vs its own control group. ∗P < 0.05 vs its BC-injected mice treated with vehicle. Some results presented in this figure have been previously reported.⁹