Figure 2.

Sodium demethylcantharidate induced apoptosis in HCC cells. (A) SMMC-7721 and (B) Bel-7402 cells were treated with sodium demethylcantharidate (0, 9, 18 or 36 µM) for 24 h. Apoptosis was measured via Annexin V/propidiumiodide (PI) staining and quantified by flow cytometry. (C) Apoptosis proteins including Bax, Bcl-2, cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-9 were analyzed by Western blotting. The experiments were repeated at least three times. The data are expressed as the means ± SD of three experiments (*P<0.05 vs. control).