Fig 14.

Inactivation of ADAM17 reversed Cdc42 deletion-induced EC apoptosis. (A) Cell lysates of HUVECs transfected with scrambled siRNA, Cdc42 siRNA, or Cdc42 siRNA plus ADAM17 siRNA were analyzed by Western blotting using specific antibodies against Bax or Bcl-2. (B) The intensities of bands from three different experiments were quantitatively analyzed. (C through F) HUVECs were transfected with scrambled siRNA (C), Cdc42 siRNA (D), or Cdc42 siRNA plus Adam17 siRNA (E) and were cultured for 72 h. HUVEC nuclei were then labeled by propidium iodide (PI), and apoptotic cells were labeled by annexin V. (F) Quantitative analysis data show that ADAM17 knockdown significantly decreased Cdc42 deletion-induced apoptosis. (G through M) TUNEL staining revealed increased HUVEC apoptosis in Cdc42 knockdown cells (I and J) relative to that in control cells (G and H). The silencing of ADAM17 significantly reduced HUVEC apoptosis induced by the deletion of Cdc42 (K and L). The percentage of apoptotic HUVECs was quantitatively analyzed (M).