Fig. 1: Cepharanthine increases sensitivity to epirubicin in vitro. | Acta Pharmacologica Sinica

Fig. 1: Cepharanthine increases sensitivity to epirubicin in vitro.

From: Cepharanthine sensitizes human triple negative breast cancer cells to chemotherapeutic agent epirubicin via inducing cofilin oxidation-mediated mitochondrial fission and apoptosis

Fig. 1

a MDA-MB-231 cells were treated with various concentrations of epirubicin (EPI) in the presence or absence of 2 μM cepharanthine (CEP) or 20 μM CQ for 48 h, and MTT assays were performed to assess cell proliferation. b The combination index (CI) values for each fraction affected were determined using commercially-available software (Calcusyn, Biosoft). CI values less than 1.0 correspond to synergistic interactions. c, d Colony formation was detected using a soft agar assay in MDA-MB-231 cells treated without or with CEP (2 μM) or EPI (0.1 μM) or combination of CEP/EPI. e, f Cells were treated without or with 0.1 μM EPI in the presence or absence of 2 μM CEP or 20 μM CQ for 48 h, and Annexin V-FITC/PI staining and flow cytometry were employed to determine apoptosis. g Total cellular extract and cytosol fractions were prepared and subjected to Western blot using antibodies against total PARP, cleaved-PARP (CF), cleaved caspase 3 (C-Caspase 3), and cytochrome c (Cyto c). GAPDH was used as loading controls. Data represented as mean ± SD (n = 5, ***P < 0.001, Student’s two-tailed unpaired t-tests).

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