Fig. 2.

TRAIL-stimulation decreased the expression of DR4, DR5 and DcR2 as well as increasing the expression of osteoprotegerin (OPG) in PANC-1 cells. Cultures of PANC-1 cells were stimulated with 300 ng/ml TRAIL for 24 h. The expression of the TRAIL-receptors 1–4 was detected by FACS analyses. The concentrations of OPG within the supernatants were determined by ELISA. a The expression of respective TRAIL-receptors is expressed as mean fluorescence intensity. TRAIL-stimulation of PANC-1 cells led to significantly decreased expressions of DR4 (TRAIL receptor 1), DR5 (TRAIL receptor 2) and DcR2 (TRAIL receptor 4) whereas the expression of DcR1 (TRAIL receptor 3) remained unaltered. N ≥ 6/group. b Representative histograms show the expression of TRAIL-receptors 1 – 4 in TRAIL-stimulated PANC-1 cells and unstimulated controls. c The concentration of OPG within the cell culture supernatant increased following TRAIL-stimulation. N = 7/group. Means and standard errors of the mean are shown. *) p < 0.05; **) p < 0.01; ***) p < 0.001