Fig. 11

Effects of selective caspase-3 and caspase-8 inhibition on apoptosis induced by cytotoxic agents and associated HIV-1 replication. U1 cells were pre-incubated with in medium with added DMSO alone or with 100 μM of caspase-3 inhibitor (C3i, ZDEVD-FMK), caspase-8 inhibitor (C8i, ZIETD-FMK) and caspase-9 inhibitor (C9i, ZLEHD-FMK) alone or in combination for 2 h. After incubation with the caspase inhibitors, the U1 cells were treated with (a) etoposide or (b) doxorubicin to induce apoptosis. Apoptosis was assessed after 36 h by Annexin-V-FITC staining and flow cytometry. Total RNA was extracted from each sample and HIV-1 unspliced RNA was quantitated by real-time PCR TaqMan assay (Methods and Materials). White bar represents percent apoptosis and black bar represents fold increase in HIV-1 unspliced RNA compared to DMSO treated cells. Mean values and SD of three independent experiments are shown