Z-VAD-FMK significantly prevented p0071 degradation (p <0.05) (Figures 9B, C), displacement of p120-ctn subfamily proteins and E-cad from the AJs (Figures 9D–F), and partially prevented the F-actin rearrangement induced by L. interrogans (Figure S7), Since L. interrogans induces a caspase-3-dependent cell death in renal epithelial cells in animal models (Marinho et al., 2015), the effects of pre-treating RPTECs before infection with Z-DEVD-FMK were also evaluated to rule out the possibility that the inhibitory effects of Z-VAD-FMK are caspase-3-dependent events. This evidence concerns the gene CASP3 and infection.