Figure 3 | Cell Death & Disease

Figure 3

From: Simvastatin-induced cell cycle arrest through inhibition of STAT3/SKP2 axis and activation of AMPK to promote p27 and p21 accumulation in hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Figure 3

Simvastatin-induced AMPK activation and p21 upregulation partially induced G0/G1 arrest in HepG2 cells. (a) Simvastatin-induced AMPK activation was associated with p21 and p27 upregulation. HepG2 cells were treated with simvastatin (0, 5, 10 or 20 μg/ml) for 12 h, and then immunoblotting was used to detect p-AMPK, AMPK, p21, p27 and β-actin protein expression levels. (b and c) Genetic silencing of AMPK reduced G0/G1 phase arrest and p21 expression in simvastatin-treated HCC cells. HepG2 cells were transfected with AMPK or control siRNA for 24 h and then treated with 10 μg/ml simvastatin for 48 h. (b) Cells were collected for analysis of their DNA content by flow cytometry. (c) Cell lysates were harvested to detect protein expression levels by immunoblotting using p-AMPK, AMPK, p21, p27 and β-actin antibodies. The results were obtained from three independent experiments. Data are expressed as the mean±S.E.M. of three independent experiments. **P<0.01, ***P<0.001

Back to article page