Differential role of PI3K/Akt and MAPK/ERK pathways in conjugate induced apoptosis of prostate cancer cells.

<p>Effects of siRNA mediated silencing of Akt and ERK on conjugate-induced apoptosis of (A) PC-3 and (B) LNCaP cells. LNCaP and PC-3 PCa cells were transfected with siRNAs (at a final concentration of 100 nM) using polyfect transfection reagent. After 24 h of transfection the cells were treated with 20 μM conjugate and allowed to grow for another 24 h. The cell lysates were prepared and the level of p-Akt, p-ERK and cleaved caspase-3 proteins were detected by immunoblot analysis. The histogram on the right panel of each figure represents densitometric analyses of the image data and expressed as percent of control where the results are mean ± SEM of three independent experiments. *and # represents statistically significant difference with respect to control and 20 μM conjugate treated groups respectively at <i>p</i><0.05.