Pharmacologic Inhibition of Ezrin-Radixin-Moesin Phosphorylation is a Novel Therapeutic Strategy in Rhabdomyosarcoma

Figure 1

NSC668394 dephosphorylates ezrin and reduces cell viability and metabolism in RMS cells. (a) Western blot showing levels of phosphorylated ezrin-radixin-moesin (pERM) and total ezrin in untreated RMS cell lines. (b) Levels of pERM and total ezrin in RD and Rh41 whole cell lysates following treatment with indicated concentrations of NSC668394 or DMSO (D) for 1 h. (c) RMS cell viability following treatment with increasing concentrations of NSC668394 for 0–96 h as determined by trypan blue (d) RMS cell metabolism following treatment with increasing concentrations of NSC668394 as determined by MTT assay. (e) Variable slope nonlinear regression of 96 h MTT data was used to extrapolate IC50 values for inhibition of cell metabolism. All individual data points are represented as mean ± SEM and are representative of at least three independent experiments. Asterisks represent a significant difference between vehicle control DMSO and NSC668394 treated groups (, , , and ) for the given time point as determined by two-way ANOVA with Dunnett’s multiple comparisons test.

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