Figure 5From: Targeting 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase 1 by N-acetyl-cysteine through activation of peroxisome proliferators activated receptor alpha in human lung cancer cells, the role of p53 and p65Silencing of p53 and overexpression of p65 diminish the effect of NAC on PDK1 promoter activity and protein expression. A-B, A549 cells (1 × 105 cells) were cotransfected with a wild type PDK1 promoter construct and an internal control phRL-TK Renilla Luciferase Reporter Vector, and control or p53 siRNA (100 nM) for 40 h (A) or co-transfected with control or pCMV6 p65 expression vector (B) for 24 h, followed by NAC for an additional 24 h. Afterwards, luciferase assays were performed to detect PDK1 promoter activity. C-D, A549 cells were transfected with control or p53 siRNA (100 nM) for 40 h (C), and control or p65 overexpression vector for 24 h (D), followed by NAC for an additional 24 h. Afterwards, Western blot was performed to detect p53, p65 and PDK1 proteins. The bar graphs represent the mean ± SD of PDK1/GAPDH of at least three independent experiments. *indicates significance as compared with controls (CTR). **indicates significance of combination treatment as compared with NAC alone (p < 0.05).Back to article page