Fig. 4: Synergistic effect of pantethine on auranofin.

a a small-scale cell line profiling using indicated agents. The color bar represents the mean value of relative survival (24 h) in three independent experiments. 5 μM auranofin was used. Except for pantethine (200 μM), other thiol ligands were all used at 400 μM. All the cells were cultured in HPLM + 30% FBS. b the dose-dependent synergy of pantethine with auranofin. The viability after a 24-hour treatment was measured. Data are shown as mean ± s. d. of three independent experiments. Significance was calculated by unpaired, two-tailed t-test. c cellular gold uptake of HCT116 cells under 3 μM auranofin with or without 200 μM pantethine for 1 h. The values were normalized by the amount of protein extracted. Data are shown as mean ± s. d. of three independent experiments. Significance was calculated by unpaired, two-tailed t-test. Significance was defined as p < 0.05. d the comparison of the synergistic activities with auranofin endowed by different pantothenate derivatives using HCT116 cells in a 24-hour treatment. Except for pantethine (200 μM), its derivatives were all used at 400 μM. Data are shown as mean ± s. d. of 3 biologically independent experiments. Significance was calculated by unpaired, two-tailed t-test. e mouse models using oral gavage on an HCT116 xenograft. Drugs were administered on the indicated days. f an A549 xenograft model to compare the tumor suppression of auranofin-pantethine combo and cisplatin monotherapy. Drug administration was conducted two times per week with indicated concentrations. For e, f, data were shown as mean ± s. e. m.. HCT116 tumors: Vehicle, n = 8 mice; pantethine, n = 7 mice; AF, n = 6 mice; AF + pantethine, n = 8 mice. A549 tumors: Vehicle, n = 6 mice; cisplatin, n = 6 mice; AF + pantethine, n = 4 mice. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.