Lidocaine-promoted RARβ2 and RASSF1A demethylation up-regulates the expression of both genes. Methylation levels of RARβ2 (A) or RASSF1A (B) in MCF-7 cells treated for 72 h with 0.01, 0.1 or 1 mM lidocaine, or with 10 μM DAC, respectively; (C) mRNA level of RARβ2 or RASSF1A in MCF-7 cells post treatment with 0.1 mM lidocaine or with 10 μM DAC for 72 h; Western blot assay for protein level of RARβ2 (D) or RASSF1A (E) in MCF-7 cells with or without 0.1 mM lidocaine treatment for 96 h. Each value was expressed as mean ± SD for three independent tests. Statistical significance was assessed by the unpaired Student’s t-test (*
p ˂ 0.05, **
p ˂ 0.01, or ***
p ˂ 0.001).