Figure 1. Expression of Nalp family proteins in corneal epithelial cells. The relative expression of Nalp family member mRNA was measured by real time RT–PCR in HCE-T cells and in primary corneal epithelial cells derived from five individuals referred to as donors (D1–D5) as described in Methods. A: Relative expression levels of Nalps in HCE-T cells (mean values of three independent experiments) and in PRK samples are shown in the charts. Relative gene expression is shown as the ratio of the indicated transcripts relative to 36B4 expression±SD measured in triplicates. B: Detection of Nalp1 protein in HCE-T and LPS-treated THP-1 cell lysates by western blotting is illustrated. The uniform loading of the sample amounts was verified by using β-actin antibody.