PAX2 expression after HHV-8 infection was associated with apoptosis resistance and activation of Akt-dependent pathway. (A) Apoptosis was evaluated by the terminal dUTP nick-end labeling assay as a percentage of apoptotic cells after 24 hours of incubation. Control cells were incubated in the presence of 20% of serum. Apoptosis was induced by treatment with increasing doses of vincristine. Data are mean plus or minus SD of 3 individual experiments. Analysis of variance with Newman-Keuls multiple comparison test was performed (*P < .05, HMEC HHV-8 infected vs uninfected HMECs). (B) Phosphorylation of Akt was evaluated 1, 3, and 7 days after infection with HHV-8 of HMECs and HMEC-AS. (A) Densitometric analysis of P-Akt/Akt ratio and representative Western blots performed on 3 individual experiments; data are mean plus or minus SD of 3 individual experiments. Analysis of variance with Newman-Keuls multiple comparison test was performed (*P < .05, HMECs after 3 and 7 days of infection vs HMECs before infection, day 0; #P < .05, infected HMEC-AS vs infected HMECs). (B) Representative Western blot analysis of P-Akt and Akt and β-actin of cell lysates from HMECs and HMEC-AS before and after infection with HHV-8. A vertical line has been inserted to indicate a repositioned gel lane. Three experiments were performed with similar results.