Cellular protein in the transfected cells was extracted by RIPA lysis buffer (Beyotime, Shanghai, P.R. China). Protein samples were separated on a 10% sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and transferred onto polyvinylidene fluoride membranes. The membranes were then blocked with 5% skim milk for 1 h at room temperature and were incubated with the special primary antibodies: caspase 8 (1C12), cleaved caspase 8 p18 (Asp387), or GAPDH (D4C6R) (all at a dilution of 1:1,000; Cell Signaling Technology, Beverly, MA, USA) at 4°C overnight. The membranes were then incubated with horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibody for 1 h at room temperature. Protein bands were developed using enhanced chemiluminescence and analyzed by ImageJ 1.49 (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA)19 (link).