Figure 2: LPS triggers the processing of caspase-5, but not caspase-4, in human monocytes.

(a,b) Caspase-4 and -5 mRNA expression in monocytes treated with LPS (10 ng ml⁻¹) for the indicated times was measured by quantitative real-time PCR. (c) Western blot analysis of caspase-4 (pro-form and cleaved p20) in cell lysates of monocytes stimulated for 5 h with 10 ng ml⁻¹ LPS. (d–f) Western blot analyses of pro-caspase-5 and caspase-5 p20 in monocytes stimulated with increasing LPS concentrations (0.0001–10 μg ml⁻¹) (d) or a fixed concentration of LPS (10 ng ml⁻¹) for variable duration (e). (f) Caspase-5 processing was assessed by western blot in lysates of monocytes from three representative donors following LPS (10 ng ml⁻¹) for 5 h. GAPDH was used as the loading control. Blots are representative of three independent experiments.