Fig. 4.

In vivo effects of LDE on the expressions of tumor Bcl-2/Bax proteins and reduction of Bcl-2/Bax ratio in melanoma-bearing mice. After the mice in the control group (n = 8) and LDE group (n = 8) were killed, each tumor in both groups was excised. The expressions of Bcl-2 and Bax proteins in each tumor were analyzed by Western blotting as described in “Materials and methods” section. Anti-β-actin was used in Western blot analyses as a sample loading control. In (a) and (b), C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7 and C8 are the analyzed samples, respectively from the tumors of each mouse in the PBS-treated control group; LDE1, LDE2, LDE3, LDE4, LDE5, LDE6, LDE7 and LDE8 are the analyzed samples, respectively from the tumors of each mouse in the LDE-treated group. Compared with the PBS-treated control group, each sample in the LDE-treated group shows significantly lower ratio of Bcl-2 and Bax protein levels. The ratio (%) of Bcl-2 and Bax, (the ratio of relative density of each band normalized to β-actin), shown as mean ± SD (Bar) is relative to that of C1 in (a) or C5 in (b) as the control (designated as 100%). For one experiment, three assays were carried out and only one set of gels is shown. Statistical analysis was carried out using the ANOVA and Student’s t-test. Values with different letters (a–b) differ significantly (P < 0.05)