Docosahexaenoic Acid Induces Cell Death in Human Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Cells by Repressing mTOR via AMPK Activation and PI3K/Akt Inhibition

Figure 5

3-PUFAs suppress tumor growth in vivo by inhibiting phospho-Akt and phospho-AMPK, thereby inducing apoptosis and autophagy. (a) Effect of 3-PUFA on tumorigenicity. Upper panel: LLC cells (3 × 10⁶ cells) were injected subcutaneously into the flanks of wild-type and Fat-1 transgenic mice. Tumor size and volume were monitored every other day for 10 days. Tumor size and volume (middle) were calculated as described in Section 2. Lower panel: hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. ((b)–(e)) Representative fluorescence images showing the TUNEL assay results (b), LC3-II (c), phospho-Akt (Ser473) (d), and phospho-AMPK (e). Fluorescently stained tissues were observed under a fluorescence microscope using DP Controller software (Olympus) for image acquisition. Scale bars: 200 m.

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