NASTRp induces ER stress and eventually leads to cell death with Bim up-regulation.

<p><b>(A)</b> qRT-PCR analysis of biomarkers of ER stress/UPR related genes in NCI-H441 treated with 20 μM NASTRp in time course manner. <b>(B)</b> NASTRp induced ER stress and activated UPR led to apoptosis with Bim induction in NSCLC cell lines. Cells were treated with the indicated concentrations of NASTRp for 24 hours and cell lysates were subjected to SDS-PAGE/Western blot analysis using the indicated antibodies. <b>(C)</b> Upregulation of CHOP by NASTRp. NCI-H441 cells were treated with 20 NASTRp for 0–24 hours. At the indicated time points, cells were fixed and subjected to immunofluorescence assay with anti-CHOP antibody. Cell images were microphotographed using fluorescence microscopy at 60X magnification. Scale bars: white; 10 μm. <b>(D)</b> TUNEL-positive cells in NASTRp-treated (for 48 hours) A549 cells were counted and analyzed as relative % of TUNEL-positive cells. *<i>P</i> < 0.05 versus vehicle.