A Preclinical Evaluation of Antimycin A as a Potential Antilung Cancer Stem Cell Agent
Figure 2
Characterization of lung cancer stem cell properties via side population assays. (a) Side-population flow cytometric analysis of A549 lung cancer cells. Approximately 2.55% of cells were identified as SP. (b) Real-time PCR analysis showed that A549 SP cells contained higher levels of Nanog, β-catenin, Sox2, and CD133 mRNA transcripts compared to their non-SP counterparts. (c) A549 SP cells showed higher β-catenin-TCF/LEF transcriptional activity than their non-SP counterparts. TOPFLASH (TOP) or FOPFLASH (FOP) plasmids (0.3 μg) were used for the reporter assay. (d) A549 SP cells showed a higher ability (approximately 8-fold) to form tumor spheroids in serum-deprived medium culture than non-SP cells. Scale bar, 50 μm. *denotes while **represents as compared to their respective controls.
