TNF and breast cancer: To test the hypothesis that JMJD2C is cleaved by caspase-3-like protease, we first carried out western blotting analysis on total cell lysates of HeLa cell lines or MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell lines that were stimulated with tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)/cycloheximide (CHX) to induce caspase-3-like protease activity.