Fig. 6

ASPP2 facilitate gemcitabine induced cell apoptosis through regulation of autophagy in vitro and vivo. a–b SW1990 cells with ASPP2 stably knockdown treated with gemcitabine (1 μM) combined with/without CQ (10 μM)/3-MA (10 mM) for indicated times. The rate of surviving and apoptosis cells was detected. c The indicated proteins were detected with immunoblots in SW1990 cells with ASPP2 stably knockdown treated with gemcitabine (1 μM) with or without 3-MA (10 mM) for 48 h. d SW1990 cells with ASPP2 stably knockdown were injected into nude mice; gemcitabine combined with CQ or not were injected peritumorally. Tumors volumes were determined as the indicated time point. The expression of autophagy marker LC3 and ASPP2 were also shown in (e). f A model for regulation of autophagy by ASPP2 in pancreatic cancer. Down-regulation of ASPP2 in pancreatic cancer promotes autophagy through activates AMPK-mTOR pathways, resist to gemcitabine induced apoptosis. Data represent the mean ± SD of three independent experiments (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01)