Figure 1.

S1P confers NF-κB dependent protection from death receptor induced apoptosis. Figure A shows representative phase contrast pictures of HeLa cells treated ±5 μM Bay 11-7082 (NF-κB inhibitor) for 6 h, followed by addition of vehicle or 3 μM S1P for 8 hours. Apoptosis was then induced by addition of 50 ng/ml superFas ligand (Fas) for 16 hours. B. HeLa cells were treated as in A, and were fixed, stained for active caspase-3, and were analysed by FACS. The bars denote the mean ± SEM of at least three independent experiments (*, p < 0.05). C. Western blot showing Bcl-x_L, Bcl-2 and Bax expression in cells pre-treated with 5 μM Bay 11-7082 or vehicle for 6 h, followed by stimulation with vehicle or 3 μM S1P for 12 hours. Hsc70 was used as a loading control. The results are representative of three independent experiments.