Autophagic Flux Unleashes GATA4-NF-κB Axis to Promote Antioxidant Defense-Dependent Survival of Colorectal Cancer Cells under Chronic Acidosis

Figure 1

Autophagy promotes survival of colorectal cancer cells under acidic microenvironment. CRC and CRC-AA cells were cultured in pH 7.4 and pH 6.5, respectively. (a) Autophagy in CRC and CRC-AA cells examined with TEM (AV: autophagic vacuole; M: mitochondria; N: nucleus). (b) Expression of autophagy-related genes measured with Western blotting analysis. (c) mRNA levels of autophagy-related genes measured by qPCR. (d) Apoptotic levels of HCT15 and HCT15-AA cells after treatment with 3-MA (5 mM/L) for 24 h. (e) Depletion of ATG5 by siRNA in CRC-AA and their parental (HCT15, HCT116) cells. RNAi efficiency was determined by Western blotting analysis 48 h after transfection. GAPDH was used as a loading control. (f) Percentages of apoptotic cells in CRC and CRC-AA cells under the indicated conditions. The data shown were representative of three independent experiments. ; ; .

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)