Figure 8.

Effects of NE knockdown on Akt and apoptotic signaling in U937 cells. (A and B) The protein expression of Akt, p-Akt, Bax and Bcl-2 in U937 cells following transfection with shRNA-NC or shRNA-NE was assessed by western blot analysis. Lanes: 1, NB4 cells; 2, NB4 cells transfected with shRNA-NC; 3, NB4 cells transfected with shRNA-NE. (C) Densitometric quantification of protein expression. Following knockdown of NE, the protein expression of Bax in U937 cells was significantly increased, while the expression of Bcl-2 and levels of p-Akt were significantly increased, and total Akt was not affected. Values are expressed as the mean ± standard deviation. ^*P<0.05 vs. control. shRNA-NC, negative control small hairpin RNA; shRNA-NE, small hairpin RNA targeting neutrophil elastase; p-Akt, phosphorylated Akt; Bcl-2, B-cell lymphoma 2; Bax, Bcl-2-associated X protein.