The U-138 MG cells were grown in Dulbecco"s medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum. Cells were washed with PBS and then incubated on ice in modified RIPA buffer, containing 150 mM sodium chloride, 50 mM Tris HCl, pH 7.4, 1 mM EDTA, 1.0% NP-40, 0.5% sodium deoxycholic acid , 0.1% SDS and 0.01% (w/v) sodium azide to lyse the cells. Protein integrity was ensured using a cocktail of protease inhibitors with broad specificity for the inhibition of aspartic, cysteine, and serine proteases as well as aminopeptidases (0.1 mM AEBSF HCl, 0.08 µM Aprotinin, 5 µM Bestatin, 1.5 µM E-64, 2 µM Leupeptin Hemisulfate, 1 µM Pepstatin A). Phosphatase inhibitors 1 mM NaF and 1 mM Na3VO4 were also added. Cell debris was removed by centrifugation. Protein concentration was determined by a modified SDS assay using a commercially available kit. Protein concentration was adjusted to 2 mg/mL and then an equal volume of 2X SDS-PAGE sample buffer was added. Ready-to-use whole cell lysates produced by Rockland Immunochemicals are derived from cell lines or tissues using highly refined extraction protocols to ensure exceptionally high quality, protein integrity and lot-to-lot reproducibility.  All extracts are tested by SDS-PAGE using 4-20% gradient gels and immunoblot analysis using antibodies to key cell signaling components to confirm the presence of both high molecular weight and low molecular weight proteins.