Proteolytic activity of FVIIa is mandatory for the antiapoptotic effect. (A) Monolayers of BHK(+TF) cells were incubated in SFM alone or the SFM supplemented with FCS (10% vol/vol), FVIIa (100 nM), or FFR-FVIIa (100 nM). At the end of the 24-hour incubation period, cells were processed for TUNEL assay. (B) Monolayers of BHK(+TF) cells were incubated in SFM medium alone or the SFM supplemented with FVIIa (100 nM), FXa (100 nM), or thrombin (10 nM) in the presence and absence of specific inhibitors, hirudin (25 U/mL), and TAP (200 nM). The inhibitors were added to the cells 30 minutes prior to the protease. At the end of 24 hours, the cells were processed for TUNEL assay. Each panel shows a representative experiment (n = 3).