Fig. 7: The downregulation of HOTAIR increased the sensitivity of GIST cells to imatinib in vivo.

A Size of the excised tumors after 14 days of treatment with or without imatinib in the presence or absence of siHOTAIR. B Average percent change in tumor volume relative to the beginning for each treatment. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01 vs. control. C Changes in body weight for each treatment. D, E The relative expression levels of HOTAIR and miR-130a were analyzed in the four groups using qRT-PCR. **P < 0.01 vs. control or imatinib. F The levels of autophagy-related proteins (ATG2B, Beclin1, p62, and LC3) were detected using western blotting. G Representative pictures of Ki-67 staining, TUNEL assays, and immunohistochemistry for p62. H The positive rates of Ki-67 staining and TUNEL assays. **P < 0.01 vs. control. ##P < 0.01 vs. imatinib.