Figure 5.

Effects of melittin on the phosphorylation/activation of VEGF-A/VEGFR-2/MEK1/ERK1/2 signaling pathway. Melittin specifically decreased the expression of phosphorylated/activated Cat S, VEGF-A, p-VEGFR-2, Ras, p-Raf, p-MEK1 and p-ERK1/2 in Mock/MHCC97-H cells, however, did not affect shRNA-Cat S/MHCC97-H cells. Results are from a representative experiment performed with qualitatively similar results. β-actin served as an internal control in each sample. VEGFR, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor; MEK, mitogen-activated protein kinase; ERK, extracellular regulated mitogen-activated protein kinase; p, phosphorylated, shRNA, small hairpin RNA.