Fig. 1: ECM stiffness modulates ER stress-induced cell death.

A Cells were plated on plastic or collagen-coated polyacrylamide gels with different rigidity as described in Material and Methods and treated with thapsigargin 200 nM during 48 h. Cell death was analyzed by quantification of subG1 population (A549) or PI uptake (HeLa). B A549 cells were treated as in (A) and activation of caspase-8 (C8) was assessed by western blotting. shScrambled (SC) or shcaspase-8 (C8) A549 cells (C) and shScrambled (SC) or shTRAIL-R2 (TR2) A549 cells (D) were treated as in (A) and cell death was assessed by quantification of subG1 population. Knockdown of C8 and TR2 was assessed by western blotting. Data represent mean ± SD of at least three independent experiments. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; ****P < 0.0001, Two-way ANOVA with Tukey´s multicomparisons test.