BEZ235 Increases the Sensitivity of Hepatocellular Carcinoma to Sorafenib by Inhibiting PI3K/AKT/mTOR and Inducing Autophagy

Figure 5

Effect of BEZ235 on sorafenib-induced autophagy in HCC cells. (a and c) The autophagy-related proteins (Beclin1, p62) were estimated by western blot after treatment with sorafenib (4 μM) for 0, 6, 12, 24, and 48 h. (b) Huh7 and Huh7^R cells were treated with sorafenib (2, 4, 8, and 16 μM) for 24 h and observed with western blot. (d) LC3 was estimated by western blot after treatment with sorafenib (4 μM) and chloroquine (50 μM) for 0, 24, 48, and 72 h. (e) Indirect immunofluorescence was used to detect the effect of various treatments on the expression of LC3 after treatment with chloroquine (CQ), sorafenib, BEZ235, or various combinations of them for 24 h. (CQ, 50 μM; SFB + CQ, 4 μM+ 50 μM; BEZ + CQ: 0.25 μM+ 50 μM). (f and g) Huh7 and Huh7^R cells were incubated with various treatments for 24 h. The cell lysates were collected, and the designated proteins were detected by western blot (SFB, 4 μM; BEZ235, 0.25 μM; SFB. 4 μM + BEZ, 0.25 μM; CQ, 50 μM). Data are presented as , . , all versus SFB or CQ single-agent group. CQ: chloroquine; SFB: sorafenib; BEZ: BEZ235; SFB + BEZ: sorafenib combined with BEZ235.

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