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Fig. 4 AR activation increases the intracellular VEGF levels, but reduces VEGF secretion. Treatment with R1881 (left panel) or DHT (right panel) for 24 h concentration-dependently increased the levels of VEGF protein in HUVECs (a), but reduced the VEGF concentrations in the conditioned medium of HUVECs culture (b). The concentrations of VEGF in HUVECs and conditioned medium were measured by ELISA analyses and expressed as fold of control. Values represent the means± s.e.mean. (n = 4). *p ＜ 0.05 different from control (without R1881 treatment). (c) Treatment with R1881 (5 nM) or T-BSA (20 nM) for 24 h increased the levels of VEGF and CTGF in HUVECs, and these effects were abolished by pre-treatment with 100 nM of PP2, a cSrc inhibitor. Values (means± s.e.mean.) shown in parentheses represent the quantitative results after adjusted with the α-tubulin protein levels and expressed as fold of control. (n = 3). *p ＜ 0.05 different from corresponding control. #p ＜ 0.05 different from R1881-treated group. §p ＜ 0.05 different from T-BSA-treated group. (d) Treatment with R1881 (5 nM) for 24 h increased the levels of VEGF and CTGF protein in HUVECs, and these effects were abolished by knockdown of STAT3 expression. Values shown in parentheses represent the quantitative results after adjusted with the α-tubulin protein levels and expressed as fold of corresponding control. Values represent the means± s.e.mean. (n = 3). *p ＜ 0.05 different from corresponding control. #p ＜ 0.05 different from NT siRNA+R1881. (e) Treatment of HUVECs with R1881 (5 nM) for 24 h decreased the level of VEGF protein in conditioned medium, and these effects were abolished by transfection with RhoA V14 pcDNA, which increased the level of RhoA protein. Values represent the means± s.e.mean. (n =3). *p ＜ 0.05 different from the DMSO-treated group. CM, conditioned medium; T-BSA, testosterone-bovine serum albumin.