Fig. 3. Combined treatment with DAC and ATRA restrained DAC-mediated Nrf2 activation.
MDS-L and MOLM-13 cells were treated with DAC (0.8 and 1.5 μM, respectively), ATRA (4 and 2 μM, respectively), or both drugs in combination for 24 h. Immunofluorescence (a) and immunoblotting analysis (b) showed that DAC treatment induced Nrf2 translocation into the nucleus. Co-treatment with DAC and ATRA did not block the translocation triggered by DAC. Compared with the Ctrl, treatment with DAC alone significantly increased the mRNA (c) and protein (d) expression levels of NQO1, DUSP1, GPX2, and FTH in MDS-L and MOLM-13 cells. At the same time, the combination of DAC and ATRA markedly reversed the upregulated expression caused by DAC.