Fig. 5

OPN upregulates pancreatic CSC activity by activating autophagy. a PANC-1 cells were treated with or without OPN (100 ng/mL) for 24 h. The lysates were collected for Western blotting using the indicated antibodies. b The lysates of PANC-1 cells with or without stable expression of OPN-specific shRNA were subjected to Western blotting using the indicated antibodies. c The control, shATG5, shATG7, shBECN1 cells were treated with OPN (100 ng/mL) for 24 h. The lysates were collected for Western blotting with the indicated antibodies. d and e PANC-1 cells were pretreated with the JAK2/STAT3 inhibitor AG490 (40 μM), the MEK/ERK inhibitor PD98059 (5 μM), and the NF-κB inhibitor BAY 1170–82 (5 μM) for 1 h followed by incubation with OPN (100 ng/mL) for 24 h. The lysates were subjected to Western blotting using LC3 antibodies. The number of LC3⁺/ALDH1⁺ cells and CD44⁺/CD133⁺ cells was measured by flow cytometry. Values represent means ± SE. NS, not significant; *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01; ***, P < 0.001 compared to controls