Figure 5.

AMPK mediates lovastatin‐induced p38MAPK and p53 phosphorylation in MCF‐7 cells. Cells were treated with vehicle or lovastatin at 30 μmol/L for indicated periods. The extent of LKB1 (MW 54 kD) (A) or AMPK (MW 62 kD) (B) phosphorylation was determined by immunoblotting. Each column represents the mean ± SEM of six independent experiments (Statistically significant differences were determined using the Kruskal‐Wallis test. *P < .05, compared with the control group). Cells were transfected with pcDNA or AMPK‐DN for 48 h. After transfection, cells were treated with vehicle or lovastatin (30 μmol/L) for another 1 h. The extent of p38MAPK (C) or p53 (D) phosphorylation was determined by immunoblotting. Each column represents the mean ± SEM of four independent experiments (Statistically significant differences were determined using the Mann‐Whitney test. *P < .05, compared with the vehicle‐treated control group; ^# P < .05, compared with the group treated with lovastatin alone)