Fig. 7: PBK promotes cisplatin resistance through autophagy in xenograft.

a Experimental design of experimental protocols in BALB/c nude mice. Thirty-five-day-old mice were subcutaneously injected with cells stably transfected with PCMV-PBK or PCMV. When the tumor volumes reached 50–200 mm³ at day 49, tumor-bearing mice then received intraperitoneal injection of CDDP (5 mg/kg, every 3 days) or/and CQ (60 mg/kg, every day), respectively. The volumes of tumor were measured every 5 days using a vernier caliper. Twenty-five days after injection, the mice were sacrificed to determine tumor volumes and were photographed. b The tumor volumes of each group. c Tumors from each group were shown. d Western blot analysis of protein levels of cleaved-caspase-3, cleaved PARP, LC3-I, LC3-II, PBK, and β-actin in tumor tissues. Quantification of relative protein expression levels was shown in Supplementary Figure S11D. e Representative images of IHC staining of Ki-67, cleaved-caspase-3, and PBK in tumor tissues. Scale bar: 50 µm (data are mean ± SEM, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, n = 6)