Protein and mRNA levels of 2D and 3D cultures in response to 1 nM R1881 after 48 h of treatment.

<p>(A) A representative Western blot reveals an increased level of all the investigated proteins in 2D cultures when treated with R1881 compared to the non treated (ethanol controls) while in 3D cultures, only PSA and CK8 are significantly elevated. (B) Signal ratio of proteins relative to α-tubulin from Western blots of R1881 treated and ethanol control groups (−R1881) are presented as mean ± SE. The protein quantifications support the changes shown in immunoblots above. (C) qRT-PCR representing expression of LNCaP cell markers (mean ± SE) where PSA and CK8 are up-regulated at the mRNA level upon treatment in both 2D and 3D cultures when compared to non treated 2D or 3D groups. The AR is only elevated in 2D cultures. Significant difference (p<0.05) between treated and non-treated samples within similar groups (either 2D or 3D cultures) is denoted by (*) and between similar treatment of different groups are denoted by (Δ). Triplicate samples were analyzed from at least three independent experiments.