Apoptosis was then assessed functionally following camptothecin treatment by examining DNA fragmentation using agarose gel electrophoresis and executioner caspase activation assays. The executioner caspase activation assay demonstrated robust executioner caspase activation in the normal IECs following treatment, whereas no executioner caspase activation was detected in the patient-derived colorectal cancer IECs.

Figure 7. Three potential agarose gel electrophoresis results (A-C) for the DNA fragmentation assay. M = DNA ladder, 1 = normal IECs without camptothecin treatment, 2 = normal IECs following camptothecin treatment, 3 = colorectal cancer IECs following camptothecin treatment.