Fig. 3: Tacrolimus tends to elevate the mTOR-activity of normal tubular epithelial cell line in vitro.
From: Tumorigenic role of tacrolimus through mTORC1/C2 activation in post-transplant renal cell carcinomas
Tacrolimus (TAC) elevates, while mTOR inhibitors decrease mTOR activity in vitro in normal tubular epithelial cell line (HK-2) (a, b) Western blot analyses of short- and long-term effect of TAC (10 ng/ml; 72 h and 21-day) on mTOR activity markers and (c) comparing the effects of TAC (10 ng/ml; 72 h), rapamycin (RAPA; 10 ng/ml, 72 h) and PP242 (1 μM; 72 h) on mTOR activity. Samples were derived from the same experiment, and the blots were processed in parallel. d Effects of tacrolimus, rapamycin and PP242 on proliferation of HK-2 cells (72 h). Used concentrations were indicated in the figure. Alamar Blue (AB) and Sulforhodamine B (SRB) proliferation assays were used. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 (one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc test, the significance compared to the control). e Long-term (21-day) effect of tacrolimus (10 ng/ml) on HK-2 cell line. Proliferation was evaluated by cell counting. No cells were discarded during the experiment.
