FIGURE 4.

Meprinα enhances Caco-2 cell proliferation. Caco-2 cells were treated with conditioned medium containing activated meprinα, inhibited meprinα, or 100 ng/ml EGF (positive control). Further, the effect of inhibitors (neutralizing EGF and TGFα antibodies (nAB EGF/nAB TGFα), EGFR inhibitor AG1478, or MEK inhibitor U0126) on meprinα- induced proliferation was analyzed. Proliferation was measured by three independent assays: Alamar Blue (A), Cell Titer Glo cell viability (B), and BrdU incorporation (C/D). D shows representative pictures for each condition and in C, quantification of three separate experiments is shown. For all experiments, Caco-2 cell proliferation in response to the corresponding stimuli is shown as percentage increase. Control values were set as 0. n = 3; ± S.E., Student's t test ***, p ≤ 0.001; **, p ≤ 0.01; *, p ≤ 0.05.