Figure 7.

The combination of β-elemene and radiotherapy for radioresistant non-small-cell lung cancer treatment. (A) The illustration of β-elemene overcoming the radioresistance of A549 cells by suppressing the radiation-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cancer stem cells (CSCs) transdifferentiation via the Prx-1/NF-κB/iNOS pathway. (B) The downregulation of EMT makers (N-cadherin and vimentin) and CSC markers (CD133, CD44, and epcam) by β-elemene in radiotherapy. (C) The combination therapy induced DNA damage, increased γ-H2AX (double-strand break marker) expression and decreased Rad51 (double-strand break repair protein) expression in A549 cells. (D) The enhanced therapeutic effect of β-elemene combined with radiotherapy in A549 xenograft mouse model. Reproduced from ¹⁹² with permission from Zou et al.