Effects of benzo[a]pyrene and merbarone on L1 promoter activity in HeLa cells.

<p>L1 promoter activity 6 and 24 hours after treatment was evaluated by the luciferase reporter gene assay. Data are represented as the average ratio (± SD) of the L1 promoter activity in the presence of the test compound relative to that in the presence of the vehicle control from two independent experiments (in quadruplicate; n = 8). Statistically significant differences as compared with the vehicle control for 6-hour and 24-hour treatments are indicated by *and #, respectively (*<i>p</i><0.05; ***or ###, <i>p</i><0.001).