Figure 7.

PBOX-15/TRAIL-induced reduction in mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) is accompanied by phosphorylation and/or degradation of antiapoptotic proteins, Bcl-2, Bcl-xL and Mcl-1, and processing of pro-apoptotic BH3-only proteins, Bid and Bim, in Jurkat ALL cells. Jurkat cells (500,000 cells/ml) were treated with vehicle [0.2% (v/v) ethanol] or PBOX-15 (1 μM) ± TRAIL (20 ng/ml). (A) Mitochondrial membrane potential was assessed 16, 20 or 24 h post-treatment by incubation with JC-1 and analysis by flow cytometry. Values represent the mean ± SEM for three independent experiments. A P-value of <0.05 was considered to be statically significant (^*P<0.05, ^**P<0.01, ^***P<0.001). (B) Twenty-four hours post-treatment, western blotting was used to assess protein expression of anti-apoptotic proteins, Bcl-2, Bcl-xL and Mcl-1 or pro-apoptotic BH3-only proteins, Bid and Bim. Expression of β-tubulin or GAPDH was used as a loading control. Blots are representative of three independent experiments.