Bee Venom Triggers Autophagy-Induced Apoptosis in Human Lung Cancer Cells via the mTOR Signaling Pathway

Figure 5

Bee venom-induced autophagy enhances apoptosis and triggers cell death in NCI-H460 cells. (a–c) NCI-H460 cells were transfected with si-ATG5 and then treated with 1 μg/ml bee venom for 24 h. A western blot analysis was then performed to analyze the level of autophagy-related (a) and apoptosis-related (b) proteins. (c) Representative fluorescence microscopic images showing DAPI (blue) and TUNEL (green) nuclear staining. Scale bar, 50 μm. The number of positively stained cells was counted in three different fields and averaged. The data are presented as the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. . (d) NCI-H460 cells were transfected with si-ATG5 and then treated with 1 μg/ml bee venom for 24 h. The cell population of bee venom-treated cells was measured using FACS analysis. The data are presented as the mean ± SD of three independent experiments. (e) NCI-H460 cells were transfected with si-ATG5 and then treated with 1 μg/ml bee venom for 24 h. The apoptosis of bee venom-treated cells was measured using FACS analysis. The data are presented as the mean ± SD of three independent experiments.

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