Effects of 5-demethyl NOB on cell cycle distribution and regulatory gene expression. THP-1 cells were treated with vehicle or 5-demethyl NOB (20 and 40 μM) for 24–72 h, and the cell cycle distribution was detected by flow cytometric analysis. (a) A representative histogram of cell cycle distribution. THP-1 cells were treated with 5-demethyl NOB (20 and 40 μM) for (b) 24 h, (c) 48 h, and (d) 72 h, and the cell populations in G0/G1, S and G2/M phases were quantified. The data represent the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. ** p < 0.01 represents significant differences compared to the vehicle-treated group. Western blot analysis of (e) p21, (f) cyclin E1, cyclin A1, CDK2 and actin expression in THP-1 cells treated with vehicle or 5-demethyl NOB (20 and 40 μM) for 48 h.