Protein Analysis by Immunoblotting

Protein analysis by immunoblotting was performed essentially as previously described^{27 (link)}. Briefly, samples were collected, washed out with PBS and lysed with RIPA buffer. Protein concentration was determined by BCA assay (Pierce) before electrophoresis in 4–15% TGX gels (BioRad) and equal amount of protein was loaded in each well. Protein transfer was performed in TransTurbo system (BioRad) in PVDF membranes. After blocking for 1 h with 5% non-fat milk, membranes were incubated overnight at 4 °C in agitation with primary antibodies, washed three times with PBS-Tween 0,1% and incubated with the appropriate HRP-labeled secondary antibody for 1 h. Membranes were washed out three times with PBS-Tween 0,1% and developed with Substrat HRP Immobilon Western (Millipore). Band quantification was performed using the “ImageLab” software from BioRad and represented as the ratio between the protein of interest and a control protein i.e. actin. The value of 1 is arbitrarily given to control cells. One blot representative of several experiments is shown.