Melatonin attenuates cisplatin-induced HepG2 cell death via the regulation of mTOR and ERCC1 expressions

Figure 5 Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analyses of apoptosis regulators in treated hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Melatonin had minor effects on all apoptosis markers, whereas cisplatin significantly increased apoptosis via the activation of p53 and caspase3 and the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio. Melatonin reduced cisplatin effects in the combined treatment. (^aP < 0.05, ^cP < 0.001 compared with the control group, ^dP < 0.05, ^eP < 0.01 compared with the cisplatin-treated group).