Louis, MO). Antibodies against phospho AMPK (Thr172) and phospho ERK (Thr202/Tyr204) as well as those for AMPK and ERK were generous gifts of Dr. R. Naviaux. The antibodies against AKT and phospho AKT (Ser473) were purchased from Cell Signaling Technology. Viability assay A498 cells were plated at 5,000 cells/well in a 96-well plate in complete medium. The following day, cells were treated with EA at 50 and 100 nM. Control cells received 0.1% DMSO. All conditions were performed in triplicate. Cells were then incubated with additions for 24 or 48 h before measuring viability using the PrestoBlue® (Invitrogen, CA) assay as described by manufacturer. This assay uses a resazurin-based solution that functions

as a cell viability indicator by using the reducing power of living cells to quantitatively measure the proliferation of cells. Viability was determined by measuring fluorescence on a Synergy Mx VX-680 chemical structure plate reader (BioTek Instruments Inc., Winooski, VT) with excitation/emission at 560/590 nM. Apoptosis assays Apoptosis was determined independently by two different methods. The Alexa Fluor® learn more 488 annexin V/Dead Cell Apoptosis

Kit (Life www.selleckchem.com/products/wh-4-023.html Technologies, Grand Island, NY) was used to measure externalized phosphatidyl serine and dead cells permeable to propidium iodide (PI). For these experiments, A498 cells were treated with 100 nM EA or with 0.1% DMSO (control) for 24 and 46 h. Cells were then trypsinized, washed with ice cold PBS, and stained with Alexa Fluor® 488 annexin V and PI as recommended by manufacturer. Cells were then analyzed by flow cytometry using a FACS Caliber flow cytometer

(Beckton Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, NJ) and Flow Jo software (TreeStar Inc., Ashland, OR). Apoptosis induced by EA in A498 cells was also Grape seed extract determined by measuring cytoplasmic histone-associated-DNA-fragments using the Cell Death Detection ELISAPLUS kit (Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Mannheim, Germany) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. In these experiments, A498 cells were plated at 5,000 cells/well (96-well plate) in complete RPMI medium. The following day, cells were treated with 100 nM EA or with 0.1% DMSO, and incubated at 37°C for 18, 24, and 45 h before apoptosis was measured. Caspase assays Multiple caspases were analyzed using the FLICA reagent (FAM Caspase Activity kit, Imgenex, San Diego, CA) which only binds active caspases. In these experiments, A498 cells were plated at 0.5 × 106 cells/T-25 flask in complete RPMI. After cells were allowed to attach overnight, cells were treated with 100 nM EA or 0.1% DMSO for 43 h, or with 200 μM etoposide for 24 h. Cells were then harvested and stained with the FLICA reagent according to manufacturer’s recommendations and fluorescence was measured with excitation at 490 nm and emission at 520 nm. Caspase-9 activity was measured after treatment of cells with and without 100 nM EA as above followed by trypsinization and cell lysis.