Impaired Autophagy Induced by oxLDL/β2GPI/anti-β2GPI Complex through PI3K/AKT/mTOR and eNOS Signaling Pathways Contributes to Endothelial Cell Dysfunction

Figure 8

Activation of autophagy attenuates oxLDL/β2GPI/anti-β2GPI complex-induced endothelial apoptosis. HUVECs were incubated with oxLDL/β2GPI/anti-β2GPI complex, oxLDL/β2GPI/anti-β2GPI complex + rapamycin (1 μM, autophagy activator), and 3-MA (5 mM, autophagy inhibitor) for 24 h. Representative images of apoptotic cells determined using flow cytometry (a). Quantitative statistics of the apoptotic rate (b). Western blotting analysis of cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-9 (c). Quantification of cleaved caspase-3 (d) and cleaved caspase-9 (e). , , and indicate statistically significant differences. ns: nonsignificant differences. All values are denoted as from three independent experiments (), and a representative blot was shown.

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