The mRNA levels of VEGF and IL-8 were detected by quantitative real-time PCR using One Step SYBR PrimeScript RT-PCR (TaKaRa, China) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The method was as described previously (7 (link)). Total RNA was extracted from treated and untreated NSCLC cells with TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen). The following specific primers were used: human VEGF (forward 5′-TCTACCTCCACCATGCCAAGT-3′ and reverse 5′-GATGATTCTGCCCTCCTCCTT-3′) (Genbank: NM_001025366.2); IL-8 (forward 5′-TTGCCAAGGAGTGCTAAAGAA-3′ and reverse 5′-GCCCTCTTCAAAAACTTCTCC-3′) (Genbank: NM_000584.3); β-actin (forward 5′-TCAAGATCATTGCTCCTCCTG-3′ and reverse 5′-CTGCTTGCTGATCCACATCTG-3′) (Genbank: NM_001017992.3). All the primers were produced by TaKaRa Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (Dalian, China). The thermocycling conditions for real-time PCR were as follows: 42°C for 5 min, 95°C for 10 s, followed by the PCR process (40 cycles at 95°C for 5 s, and 60°C for 31 s). The relative mRNA levels were normalized to β-actin. The experiment was repeated in triplicate.