Caspase-12 silencing strikingly up-regulated hBD1, 2, 3 mRNA levels in Leuk-1 cells following CSE stimulation.

<p><b>A</b> Real-time PCR results indicated that Caspase-12-silenced cells expressed 1,000-fold hBD1 mRNAs than the controls following 1% CSE treatment. Strikingly, Caspase-12-silenced cells expressed more than 8,000-fold hBD1 mRNAs than the controls following 8% CSE treatment. <b>B</b> The hBD2 mRNA levels increased and reached the highest level following 1% CSE treatment in Caspase-12-silenced cells, which expressed more than 1,000-fold hBD2 mRNAs than the controls. The hBD2 mRNA levels following 8% CSE treatment increased in Caspase-12-silenced cells, which expressed nearly 10-fold hBD2 mRNAs than the controls. <b>C</b> The hBD3 mRNA levels following 1% CSE treatment reached the peak level in Caspase-12-silenced cells, which expressed about 100-fold hBD3 mRNAs than the controls. Caspase-12-silenced cells following 8% CSE treatment also reached the peak level and expressed about 300-fold hBD3 mRNAs than the controls. The mRNA data were expressed as means±SE (n = 3). Statistical significance: #<i>P</i><0.05, ##<i>P</i><0.01, ###<i>P</i><0.001 vs. scrambled siRNA-transfected cells.