Polyclonal antibodies to caspase 3, caspase 9, and PARP were purchased from Cell Signaling, a mon oclonal antibody to caspase 7 and a polyclonal antibody to DFF45 were obtained from BD Transduction. Polyclonal anti caspase 9, and monoclonal ac tin antibodies were purchased from Ale is and Sigma, respectively. Membranes were incubated and developed according to the Enhanced Chemilumi nescent Protocol, according to manufacturers instruc tions. After initial blotting, membranes were reprobed for actin to ensure even loading. BRCA1 status of the cell lines used in this study was con firmed via western immunoblotting. Cells were mi ed with equal volume of 2 loading buffer, vorte ed and boiled for 5 minutes.

One hundred thousand cells were separated by 5% SDS PAGE, transferred by wet transfer to PVDF membrane, and blotted as described above using monoclonal antibody specific for the N terminus of BRCA1. After blotting, the PVDF membrane was stained with 2% amido black in 7% gla cial acetic acid and the protein fronts of all lanes were compared for loading accuracy. Statistical Analysis Samples for MTS and trypan blue e clusion assays were performed in triplicate and the data subjected to the Stu dents paired t test analysis for determination of statistical significance between BRCA1 and BRCA1wt samples. Two tailed results are reported as P values within the cor responding figures. Background Differentially e pressed in adenocarcinoma of the lung 4. 1B is a tumor suppressor gene belonging to the Protein 4. 1 superfamily. Like other members of this family, DAL 1 4.

1B localizes to the cell membrane and contains an N terminal 4. 1 ezrin radi in moesin domain and spectrin actin binding sequences. When introduced into DAL 1 4. 1B null lung, breast and menin gioma cancer cell lines, this Protein 4. 1 family member significantly suppresses growth, in part through the induc tion of apoptosis. However, the pathways via which DAL 1 4. 1B e erts its growth suppressing proper ties are still poorly understood. The FERM domain of the founding family member Pro tein 4. 1R has been found to associate with several mem brane proteins, including erythrocyte band 3, calmodulin, glycophorin C, p55 and spliceosome associated pICln. Similarly, merlin NF2 associates with several trans membrane proteins including CD44 via residues in the N terminal FERM domain.

The interaction of Drug_discovery merlin NF2 with CD44 has been shown to be critical for its Recently we have reported that DAL 1 4. 1B regulates the methylation of substrates by PRMT3 and PRMT5 both in vitro and in cultured cells. Based on these findings, post translational protein methylation may be one mech anism by which DAL 1 4. 1B suppresses growth and induces apoptosis in MCF 7 cells. To address this, DAL 1 4. 1B induced apoptosis and caspase activation were ana lyzed in both control and hypomethylated MCF 7 cells. These studies show that DAL 1 4.