Fibroblast Growth Factor-2 and the HIV-1 Tat Protein Synergize in Promoting Bcl-2 Expression and Preventing Endothelial Cell Apoptosis: Implications for the Pathogenesis of AIDS-Associated Kaposi's Sarcoma

Figure 4

Protection of human endothelial cells from anoikis by FGF-2 alone or combined with Tat parallels the up-regulation of Bcl-2 expression. HUVECs were treated as described in the legend of Figure 2. Total RNA was extracted from the cells, and the Bcl-2 mRNA levels were analyzed by a housekeeping gene normalized RT-PCR assay. In the upper panel is the Southern blot hybridization of PCR products from a representative RT-PCR experiment performed with primers specific for Bcl-2. In the central panel is the 𝛽-actin RT-PCR amplification of the samples, showing that normalization of cDNA content resulted in 𝛽-actin PCR bands of identical size. In the lower panel is the quantification of Bcl-2 hybridization bands by Instant Imager from 3 independent experiments (average +SD).