Fig. 4

Trehalose or THBS1 LSKL peptide upregulated autophagic flux in hTM cells. hTM cells were either incubated individually with trehalose (100 mM), SLLK or LSKL peptide (1 or 5 µM), or co-incubated with 100 mM trehalose and 5 µM LSKL peptide for 48 h. (a) 100 mM trehalose upregulated autophagic vacuoles in hTM cells by 32%. (b) THBS1 LSKL inhibitor peptide upregulated autophagic flux by 26% at 1 µM and 55% at 5 µM when compared with the SLLK control peptide. (c) Trehalose added to 5 µM LSKL peptide did not further upregulate autophagic vacuoles relative to cells treated with LSKL alone (51% and 53% upregulation, respectively). Data represent mean ± SEM (n = 3 different cell strains per group). Statistical significance relative to vehicle control (unpaired Student’s t-test) is indicated by **(P < 0.01), ***(P < 0.001) and ***(P < 0.0001). Tre: trehalose.