Effects of the ectopically expressed Mdm RING domains on p53 activation. (A) U2OS cells were transfected with FLAG-Mdm2, FLAG-MdmX, FLAG-Mdm2 RING, and FLAG-MdmX RING. The total cell lysate was immunoblotted for the protein levels of full-length Mdm2 and MdmX. (B) U2OS cells were transfected with FLAG-Mdm2, FLAG-MdmX, FLAG-Mdm2 RING, and YFP-MdmX RING. The total cell lysate was immunoblotted for the protein levels of p53, phosphorylated p53 at Ser15, p21, and Bax. (C) U2OS cells were transfected with FLAG-Mdm2, FLAG-MdmX, FLAG-Mdm2 RING, and FLAG-MdmX RING. Relative mRNA expression levels of p21 (CDKN1A) and Bax (BAX) were analyzed. Results are expressed as Mean ± SEM of three biological replicates. Expression levels of p21 and Bax in the vector control are taken as 1. The results were analyzed using statistical one-way ANOVA test. * p ≤ 0.05.