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. 2010 Dec 20;5(12):e15630. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015630

Figure 4. Reducing the proportion of BT-ICs sensitizes breast cancer cells to chemotherapy.

Figure 4

(A)Treatment with salinomycin or lapatinib significantly reduced mammosphere formation in CD44+/CD24− MCF-7 cells and primary cells by approximately 10 fold relative to DMSO control (p<0.001). (B) Treatment with salinomycin or lapatinib reduced the percentage of ALDH1+ in CD44+/CD24− MCF-7 cells by 5–10 fold and primary cells by 50 fold. (C) Addition of lapatinib or salinomycin reduced the percentage of cloning efficiency of CD44+CD24− MCF7 cells by approximately 10–30 fold (p<0.001). (D) The sensitivity of CD44+/CD24− MCF-7 cells to adriamycin increased in the presence of lapatinib or salinomycin, as the dead cells increased from 27.8%±0.85% and 32.8%±2.6% to 75.1%±4.1%% and 77.9%±4.8% respectively determined by FACS analysis of Annexin V and PI staining(*p<0.01, **p<0.001, mean±SD). All the experiments were repeated 3 times independently.